I'm obviously not a fan of using a microwave to heat or cook your food, but I finally learned of a good use for them, they can actually help lower your risk of getting sick.

Your kitchen sponge is likely one of the most contaminated objects in your kitchen.  Fortunately it turns out that placing that sponge in for two minutes in the microwave is likely enough to kill 99 percent of the bacteria hidden in the sponge.

Zapping sponges in the microwave every other day will decontaminate them better than simply putting them in the dishwasher, which is the strategy I had been previously using. I will be moving into a new home shortly and the previous owners had put in a built in microwave. I had planned on removing it but will likely keep it now that I found a new use for it.

If you do use it for this purpose PLEASE be careful to make sure the sponge is wet as if you put it dry into the microwave you might cause a fire and smoke up your house. Additionally the way the oven works is it causes the water in the sponge to turn to steam which is what kills the bacteria.

Interestingly, the microwave was even able to kill B. cereus spores, which are able to survive extreme heat and radiation (though it took four minutes, not two). It's no wonder, then, why heating food in a microwave changes the physical structure of foods, with virtually unknown consequences.

If you study homeopathy you will understand that a large part of the damage that microwaves introduces into the food is related to the vibrational component. Essentially the microwave produces a negative homeopathic that can move your body towards disease. Yes, this is true even when you use it to heat up water for tea or coffee.

My staff was not happy when I removed the microwave from the office but replacing it with a Turbo Oven which is safe and nearly as fast, satisfied most of them.

On Vital Votes, reader Michael from Alberta, Canada says:

"Just don't use the microwave for anything. Throw it out or unplug it and use it for storage, but UNPLUG it from your power socket! Sponges in Microwave? You'll never get dirt, grime, oils, etc. out, only germs, and those are your least concern if you are hygienic. How cheap do people get?

"Just throw out a dirty sponge and buy new ones. You should change your sponges often, basically whenever you see it dirty or when it smells. Also always squeeze the water from the sponge after cleaning, less germs will develop. If you keep a good hygiene, you don't need to worry about germs on sponges.

"That means: do not cross-contaminate, so you should have a sponge only for dishes, a sponge only for kitchen counters, dining table, etc., a sponge only for bathroom sink, one only for your bath tub and one only for your toilet. If someone is that lazy and cheap and uses one sponge for everything, no wonder they get sick. This is all common sense."

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