Clean Fuel —
Not a Diet

I've never owned a microwave. Not because of one specific study, but because of what microwaving actually does: it heats food by agitating water molecules, which changes the molecular structure of certain nutrients and destroys heat-sensitive vitamins and enzymes in ways that slower cooking methods don't. Vitamin B12, for example, degrades significantly under microwave exposure.

Beyond the nutrient argument — cooking real food from scratch takes maybe 20 minutes more than throwing something in a microwave. That time is an investment in your health that compounds over years. The microwave represents a mindset: convenience over quality, speed over nutrition. That mindset is at the root of most poor eating habits.

I'm not saying microwaves are poison. I'm saying they made us lazy with food, and laziness with food is where most health problems start.

Non-stick coating (PTFE, commonly known as Teflon) begins to degrade at high temperatures and releases toxic fumes. The chemical PFOA, used in the manufacturing process, has been linked to thyroid disruption, immune system effects, and is classified as a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

The industry has moved toward PFOA-free alternatives, but the broader class of chemicals — PFAS, sometimes called "forever chemicals" — are still present in many non-stick coatings and persist in the body and environment indefinitely.

The alternative is simple: stainless steel or cast iron. They last a lifetime, don't degrade under heat, and cook better once you know how to use them. The "non-stick" convenience isn't worth the trade-off.

Seed oils — sunflower, canola, corn, soybean, vegetable oil — are industrially processed using heat, pressure, and chemical solvents. They're high in omega-6 fatty acids, and the modern Western diet already has an extreme imbalance of omega-6 to omega-3. This imbalance is directly linked to chronic inflammation, which sits at the root of most lifestyle diseases.

Olive oil, butter, and coconut oil have been used by humans for thousands of years. Seed oils have been in the human diet for roughly 100 years — roughly the same period during which rates of obesity, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome began rising dramatically. Correlation isn't causation, but the timing is worth noting.

I cook with olive oil, butter, and coconut oil. Not because I read about it — because I tested it, and my body responds better. For high-heat cooking, butter or coconut oil. For dressings and finishing, olive oil. Simple.

Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar) during digestion. Complex carbs do this more slowly than simple sugars, but the end product is the same. This isn't controversial — it's basic biochemistry.

The argument for low-carb eating isn't that carbs are poison. It's that most people consume far more carbohydrate than their body needs for energy, and the excess gets stored as fat while keeping insulin elevated. Chronically elevated insulin drives inflammation, fat storage, and energy crashes.

My daughter doesn't eat cornflakes and drink Coca-Cola. She eats eggs, meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit. She's never been told she needs carbs for energy — because she has plenty of it. The idea that children specifically need grain-based carbohydrates is a marketing creation, not a nutritional necessity.

I eat this way 80-90% of the time. The rest of the time, I eat what's in front of me, enjoy it, and don't think about it. One meal doesn't undo weeks of clean eating. The guilt around "falling off" a diet is more damaging than the food itself.

This is where identity comes back into nutrition: a man who identifies as someone who eats well doesn't agonise over one off-plan meal at a dinner party. He just eats it and gets back to normal the next day. The stoplight effect in nutrition — where one bad meal triggers a week of bad eating — is an identity problem, not a willpower problem.