How Increasing Our Intake of Fruits and Vegetables and Cutting Back on Ultra-Processed Foods Made My Family Healthier

What my shopping cart tends to look like lately

 I have always been conscious of the food I feed my family. Our meals were generally balanced, and I made sure my children had at least one fruit every day. 

But sometime between early and mid last year (2025), I decided to make a more intentional change to our eating habits.

The first thing I did was drastically reduce our consumption of ultra-processed foods.

Like many busy families, convenience foods had become a staple in our home. My husband and I both work full-time, and our children are heavily involved in extracurricular activities, from football to ice hockey. Almost every evening and weekend involves picking up, dropping off, or attending one event or another.

Frozen pizzas, sausages, bacon, ham, and other ready-made foods were incredibly convenient. We could pop them into the oven and have dinner on the table within 25 minutes. It worked. The kids could easily prepare some of these meals themselves, and on hectic days they were a lifesaver. So I stocked such foods in my fridge and freezers. 

Then one day, I took stock of what was in my pantry and freezer.

I was surprised by how much ultra-processed foods we were consuming; from the canned foods to the frozen ones and the numerous meat-based bread toppings.  That was when I decided to make a significant change. No more frozen pizzas. No more sausages. No more ham or bacon. The ingredients list on the package of every food item I intend buying decided if I would buy it.  As much as possible, we would focus on whole or minimally processed foods. At the same time, I increased our intake of fruits and vegetables.

Summer came and went. Then winter arrived.

And something unusual happened.

We had the most uneventful winter we've ever experienced.

Anyone living in Norway knows how brutal the winter months can be. Along with the cold comes what often feels like an endless parade of flu viruses, especially if you have young children. I have three children, two in primary school and one in kindergarten, so our household is usually exposed to every bug making the rounds.

Yet for the first time since moving to Norway, we sailed through winter with barely any illness. My kindergatener woke up feeling weak one day, but was completely fine by the end of the day. That was it.

Even when the kindergarten became short-staffed because so many children and staff were sick with the flu, my little one remained healthy.

We also travelled to Nigeria for Christmas. During previous visits, our family had struggled with severe diarrhoea that we attributed to dietary changes and food exposure. This time, however, the trip was smooth. No stomach issues. No reactions to food. No illnesses.

We returned to Norway and continued through the remainder of winter without any significant health challenges.

The contrast with 2024 was striking.

That winter was one of the worst we had experienced. By the time one child recovered from the flu, another had caught it. It felt as though someone in the house was always sick.

What made it even worse was that many of these infections were accompanied by ear infections. Before the fever and runny nose arrived, we would often notice hearing difficulties. The infections became severe enough that the children needed antibiotics at different points.

One particularly difficult experience involved my youngest child, who was only 11 months old at the time. He was discharged from the hospital on December 31 after battling a prolonged viral infection that was complicated by a bacterial infection.

In truth, while 2024 was especially bad, every winter since our relocation to Norway had followed a similar pattern of recurring illnesses.

That is why our experience this past winter stood out so much.

As a research scientist, I understand that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Many factors influence health and immunity, and a single experience is far from scientific proof.

Still, it is difficult for me to ignore the dramatic difference we observed after changing our eating habits.

 Nutritionists would certainly be better equipped to explain the science behind what we have observed, but from a practical standpoint, the change has been remarkable for our family. Our grocery records show that more than 60% of what we buy now consists of fruits, vegetables and dairy.

And it is a lifestyle I intend to maintain.

The biggest objection many people have to eating this way is cost. Fruits and vegetables are not cheap. To make it work, I focus on whatever fruits are on discount each week, and I buy plenty of frozen fruits and vegetables, which are often more affordable and last much longer.

The other challenge is the extra cooking. Eliminating convenience foods means spending more time in the kitchen. But honestly, it has not been nearly as difficult as I imagined. I batch-cook meals on weekends and simply defrost them during the week. I even bake our bread at home.

These days, fruit has become our go-to snack. While waiting for dinner to be ready, the children reach for bananas, apples, watermelon, or whatever fruit we have in the house. They take fruits to school and kindergarten, and they eat plenty of it at home too.

Snacks for my toddler

Looking back, this simple change has brought me an unexpected sense of joy and satisfaction. We may spend a little more time preparing food, but the payoff has been worth it.

For our family, choosing more whole foods and fewer ultra-processed foods has been one of the best lifestyle decisions we have ever made.

What the school lunch box looks like on average