What are Go, Glow and Grow Foods? Basics and Benefits

Go, glow and grow is a simple hack parents follow to ensure their children get all their essential daily nutrients. Go, glow and grow are three different categories of food that provide various benefits to the body, helping children follow a balanced diet.

As children are constantly growing and developing, it's important they eat through the day, with all three meals and snacks in between to keep them fuelled with energy and provided the right nutrients to aid their growth.

The go, glow and grow tactic can also be applied to seniors’ lifestyle habits, to ensure they consume the right amount of everything.

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What are the go, glow and grow foods?

So which foods qualify as go, glow and grow foods? What nutrients fall under which category? Let’s take a look.

Go foods

Go foods are those that provide energy required for keeping them active and ensuring they are on their toes. These foods are high in carbohydrates and fats. They include:

• Grains like rice, wheat and millet consumed as bread, cereal or pasta.

• Fats from margarine, butter and vegetable oils.

• Root vegetables like potatoes and yams.

• Sugars.

Go foods. Image via Pexels/Antoni Shkraba

Go foods are also generally high in fibre, which ensures healthy bowel movement and prevents constipation.

Glow foods

Glow foods. (Image credits: Pexels/ Rdne Stock Project)

Glow foods are dense in vitamins and minerals. These foods help maintain overall health of the body and ensure that all processes in the body run smoothly. They also help keep illnesses at bay. Fruits and vegetables are especially high in such micronutrients.

Studies have shown that daily consumption of fruits and vegetables promotes healthy skin, hair, nails, and of course, immune system. The best way to make sure all your essential micros are going in is by eating vegetables and fruits in a variety of colours. Basically, have a colourful plateful of them!

Grow foods

These are foods that promote growth in the body, as well as maintain muscle and bone health. These foods are rich protein and calcium. These nutrients, along with physical activity, also stimulate the release of the growth hormone. That ensures children grow bigger and stronger. These foods include:

• Meat

• Eggs

• Dairy products

• Beans, seeds, and nuts.

Grow foods. Image via Unsplash/Hannah Tasker

Even for older adults, adequate protein and calcium intake can ensure they are less susceptible to fractures and muscle damage. However, it is advisable to approach with caution, as certain meats may not sit well with individuals once they have aged. For example, someone with high cholesterol wouldn’t be able to consume as many eggs as a younger individual without cholesterol.

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So that’s the scoop on go, glow and grow foods - pretty straightforward and foolproof if you ask us.

This is a simple way to explain to kids why and what they need to be eating. However, it’s not just kids who should be following the go, glow and grow principle. Adults can also apply that to their everyday lives to make sure they’re eating what they have to.

Balanced diet. (Image via Pexels/August de Richelieu)

Remember, your body is constantly growing and changing, regardless of your age. Consuming a whole, balanced diet is the key to a healthy life, so what better way to do it,than by following the go, glow and grow strategy?