{"id":721273,"date":"2026-06-07T16:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T16:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/721273\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T16:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T16:06:09","slug":"how-to-live-for-a-week-without-ultraprocessed-foods-according-to-our-health-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/721273\/","title":{"rendered":"How to live for a week without ultraprocessed foods, according to our health reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Health reporter Kelly Grant shops for non-ultraprocessed foods. Her family of five spent seven days experimenting with avoiding ultraprocessed foods.Melissa Tait\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

On June 4 at 1 p.m. ET, Kelly Grant answered reader questions about her family\u2019s week without ultraprocessed foods<\/a> (UPFs) and what she learned in the process. <\/p>\n

Readers asked about the challenges of time management and planning, the response from her kids and whether she incorporated any habits after the experiment. Here are some highlights from the Q&A.<\/p>\n

Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

The experiment<\/p>\n

What was your lowest moment during the week? And what was your proudest moment?<\/p>\n

Kelly Grant: My lowest moment: Definitely my minivan breaking down on my way to get more fresh groceries. I mentioned that in an episode of our daily news podcast<\/a>, The Decibel, but couldn\u2019t fit it into the written piece. I was much more panicked than usual over the whole situation because I knew I still had to get a home-cooked meal on the table by dinner time, despite not having the ingredients and losing precious prep time waiting for a tow truck. <\/p>\n

The high point was probably my youngest telling me my from-scratch cooking was better than our usual ultraprocessed fare. I don\u2019t consider myself a great cook, so that was nice.<\/p>\n

What were your grocery trips like during the week? Did you save or spend more money overall?<\/p>\n

Trips to the grocery store took longer because I was reading labels much more closely and because I was searching for unfamiliar ingredients like quick-rise yeast and wheat germ. <\/p>\n

The money question is interesting. I found we saved money overall by avoiding takeout and, especially, restaurant meals. It\u2019s far cheaper to cook for yourself. However, the cheapest possible option would have been to subsist on UPFs bought from a discount chain like Dollarama. I can see why people who are struggling to make ends meet turn to UPFs.<\/p>\n

What are some easy and quick meals you found that could replace UPFs? Especially ones you need to prep quickly right after school and commuting home from work. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve actually had a ton of people recommend that I use ChatGPT for developing quick make-ahead recipes, but I haven\u2019t tried that yet.<\/p>\n

The slow cooker is a great hack and I use mine frequently. This super-easy BBQ pulled chicken recipe<\/a> is a fave. We also like these Asian short ribs<\/a> and this comforting beef stew<\/a>. Be warned, though: Crockpot recipes can be more time-consuming than some people would have you believe. That beef stew, for example, requires browning the meat and chopping onions, carrots, potatoes and other ingredients. I find it takes me about 45 minutes to get into the pot before leaving for work.<\/p>\n

Why would you make homemade potato chips, an incredibly labour-intensive snack, rather than popcorn? Did you consult a dietitian or Google recipes for easy freezer-to table meals? <\/p>\n

I agree about the potato chips. I learned my lesson there. Truth is, I wanted to make this experiment fun for my kids, rather than a slog. My littlest guy really did have a great time making the chips. He talked to his friends about it all week. <\/p>\n

As for freezer meals, crockpot meals, etc., etc. I have a good list of them and make those staples fairly often, but not every night of the week. That\u2019s where I fall down. I\u2019m trying to get better at it, but I fail all the time. Sigh.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Kelly Grant and her sons Will, left, and Campbell eat chili at the dinner table.Melissa Tait\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Time management and planning challenges<\/p>\n

I love this idea! We have an ultra busy family and struggle with the convenience of UPFs. I\u2019d love to hear about how you managed the time, not to mention the energy, to make this happen. <\/p>\n

Love hearing from other ultra busy families. That\u2019s really who this story was for. (I actually don\u2019t think it\u2019s all that difficult to mostly avoid UPFs if you only have yourself to feed. Cook for three teen and tween boys with huge appetites, then we\u2019ll talk.) <\/p>\n

How did I find the time? By making this story my job for the week! I never could have done it if I had been working as I normally do, from a newsroom where I file frequent stories as our health reporter. I think we have to give ourselves some grace during this crazy phase of life. Make healthy, unprocessed swaps where we can, and try not to beat ourselves up too much on nights when dinner is cereal.<\/p>\n

Were your husband or your kids involved in this and in what way? It\u2019s a lot of time, planning and effort for one person.<\/p>\n

It sure is too much for one person! The boys, especially my oldest, are helpful around the kitchen, but I often find it easier to just do things myself. I\u2019m trying to get out of that mindset. In the case of our one-week experiment, they helped less than usual because I was available to cook all day as part of the story. Definitely not realistic when I\u2019m filing regular news stories.<\/p>\n

I would love to know how your kids and husband reacted to the changes. Were there any moments of resistance or surprising enthusiasm? <\/p>\n

My husband and kids were pretty good about the whole thing. You can get a sense of their reaction in this episode we did for The Decibel<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Picky eating is a constant challenge in our household, even though the boys are better now than when they were younger. They don\u2019t whine and throw food on the floor at this age. Instead, they promise to try things, pick away at the food and then make themselves toast later. But one won\u2019t eat pasta, one won\u2019t eat cheese, one won\u2019t eat rice, two are not great about vegetables, my husband won\u2019t eat pork or shrimp or chicken thighs and on and on and on it goes. It\u2019s exhausting.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Kelly Grant prepares chili.Melissa Tait\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The takeaways <\/p>\n

Did you notice any physical changes (energy levels, digestion, etc.) or drawbacks?<\/p>\n

I love this question because so many people in my life asked me the same thing. The answer is no! One week just isn\u2019t long enough to produce tangible health improvements. I think we\u2019ve all been fooled by social media influencers and others who make trumped up claims about how minor dietary changes lead to near-magical cures in a few days. The only change I noticed was that I was more tired than usual from being on my feet in the kitchen for much of the day.<\/p>\n

Do you think that the current fuss over UPFs is overblown?<\/p>\n

I think you\u2019re right that we shouldn\u2019t lose sight of the fact that there are some benefits to ultraprocessed foods, including their safety, accessibility and affordability. But the evidence is also pretty clear that eating too much UPFs is bad for our health in the long term. (This edition<\/a> of the American Journal of Public Health has a good overview.)<\/p>\n

In my regular life, when I\u2019m not doing kitchen experiments for work, I try not to get too worked up either way. I just try to do my best.<\/p>\n

Did the experience change how you think about food systems or food marketing?<\/p>\n

Absolutely. It really changed how I think about food marketing in the form of packaging. Many of the products I rejected as ultraprocessed that week came in boxes and bags emblazoned with health claims. But that didn\u2019t necessarily make them less processed. I knew I was sticking closer to the rules when I rejected packaged products altogether. There aren\u2019t any health claims on a banana.<\/p>\n

Do you feel that, as a result of your experiment, it\u2019s necessary to eliminate all UPFs from your diet or is there room for flexibility in incorporating them? Do you see UPFs as the root issue or is it part of a broader, systemic issue?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s definitely room for improvement without going all-in like I did during my week of no UPFs! One or two home-cooked meals a week is better than none.<\/p>\n

I have oodles of sympathy for families who are juggling too much. In fact, I had more details in my first draft about how truly insane my family\u2019s schedule is, but my editors encouraged me to cut it because readers would (rightly) say that I was the author of my own culinary demise, mostly for letting my sons participate in too many organized sports. <\/p>\n

And I do see the issue as systemic. It would certainly be easier for our family to eat better if we weren\u2019t inundated by chips, chocolate bars, baked goods, pop, etc., every time we walk into a gas station or pass an arena snack bar.<\/p>\n

What did this experiment reveal about accessibility and whether this kind of diet is realistic for most families?<\/p>\n

To me it revealed that time is the magic ingredient most of us don\u2019t have. It\u2019s not realistic for parents to make everything from scratch if they work full-time outside the home. Frankly, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s realistic for stay-at-home parents, either. It\u2019s just hugely time-consuming. <\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean we should give up. It just means we have to be cognizant of small swaps that help and aren\u2019t a giant production. Scramble eggs, eat an apple, grab a handful of nuts, batch cook when you can.<\/p>\n

Have you incorporated some of the things you learned even weeks after completing the experiment? Did your habits change in any way?<\/p>\n

Yes, some of the changes stuck. I\u2019m proud to say I\u2019ve been making homemade granola weekly. I stopped buying processed cereal altogether. I\u2019ve also been doing more baking to replace packaged school snacks like Bear Paws and granola bars. <\/p>\n

Next up, we\u2019re going to try Hello Fresh meal kits and see if the 15-year-old can make the meals start-to-finish himself. Now that hockey is (mostly) over, we have a smidge more time to cook and eat together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Health reporter Kelly Grant shops for non-ultraprocessed foods. Her family of five spent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[14323,244790,1397,10456,10457,9335,49,48,84,2922,395],"class_list":["post-721273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-ac-community","tag-ac-qa","tag-appwebview","tag-aud-growth","tag-aud-headline","tag-aud-url","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-noastack","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}