I rarely use my microwave and when I do, I try not to be in the same room as it. Silly? Yes, but somehow I can't shake the feeling that something about nuking food with radiation isn't right. So I use the oven to heat things up more often than not, and it's not that much of a hassle.

Should we all be concerned about microwave safety? Fitsugar asked this same question and their answer is no. The amount of radiation that is leaked isn't harmful and there are several safety features designed to keep the radiation inside.

Are you wary of your microwave?

Microwaving popcorn produces many compounds known to break down into the suspected carcinogen perfluorooctanoic acid. Research shows that the grease-repelling fluorotelomer chemicals used to treat microwave popcorn bags can get into the popcorn oil. The amount of fluorotelomers in the coating of the bags is high and popcorn bags get very hot and heat up to more than 200 degrees Celsius in just a minute or two. These high temperatures increase the potential for carcinogens to travel to the food from the packaging.

In my household popcorn is the favorite snack for everyone including the dogs and birds. Here is a tip for making the healthiest popcorn snack possible. Coconut oil has been proven to reduce the risks for cancer, especially colon and breast, and is also healthy for the heart by lowering cholesterol. Coconut oil withstands high heat so is great for when you want to fry foods or make your favorite popcorn snack. Remember to buy organic products when available.

Vicki's Healthy Popcorn
1 tablespoon organic coconut oil
1 cup organic popcorn

In a medium sauce pan melt the coconut oil and pour popcorn kernels into the pan and cover. When popcorn starts to pop, shake the pan slightly above the heat of the burner until popcorn stops popping. I usually count to five slowly and if no kernels have popped in five seconds then pull it away from the heat. There will always be unpopped kernels but you don't want to burn the ones that popped. Salt to taste.

Prostate cancer has been on the rise for the last thirty years. A small but growing group of scientists are beginning to prove with research what environmentalists and activists in the cancer community have been saying for some time -- the link between environmental toxins that mimic estrogens in the body and reproductive cancer is not coincidental. University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Cincinnati researchers have just completed a study that shows a direct link between the chemical, bisphenol A or BPA -- that leaks from plastic products we use in daily life -- to the development of prostate cancer in later life.

According to the researchers, these findings could have major implications for human disease, and could, at least in part, explain why the prostate cancer rate has surged. Used for about half a century, BPA is a key component in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastic and is one of the world's most widely used industrial chemicals. Unlike carcinogenic chemicals that can cause profound damage to DNA and trigger cancer, BPA seems to cause subtle changes that are passed from one generation to the next generation. It all starts in the womb. To read more, go here.