There’s no doubt that staying active and eating healthy is a challenge. Whether you are a nutrition major, an athlete, or just a student in general, balancing health into a more than busy schedule can be quite difficult.
CHAARG is a newly formed movement trying to ignite a passion in college-aged girls for health and fitness. Not only does it provide basic nutrition education, but it unites girls in a community of 2,000+ women who are also trying to get fit, eat healthy and stay active. CHAARG is a club that promotes the fun in fitness. It encourages young women to “find their fit,” by partnering with local studios such as CrossFit, Pure Barre, and even salsa dancing. The goal of CHAARG is to create a supportive, welcoming community to foster a love for health and fitness.
I was most surprised at how wide spread this community was for being only so recently founded. For one, CHAARG is already at 14 different universities and growing. They even have an online chapter for girls who want to be apart of the community, but do not have a chapter at their school. To me what’s really amazing is how much of a difference this movement has made in so many people’s lives already. Spreading all over the country and through social media, CHAARG is making its way into the hands of girls all over the country. The CHAARG founder, Elisabeth Tavierne, even stated that, “[her] mission is to empower every CHAARG girl to be the best version of herself.”
CHAARG’s website also provides its community with blog post from RD’s around the country. Website viewers can choose to read information from various categories– eat, sweat, inspire, and live. This information not only aims to educate, but it aims to make young women heard in their quest for fitness.
As a nutrition educator, I would use this program to promote physical activity amongst college and high school students. A girl’s first year of college is a critical time in her life. She is living in a new environment, the food is different, she may or may not be play sports like she did in high school– everything is new. From personal experience, I know I saw a change in my body and that was so discouraging. With a whole community of girls who are in the same position, I know that I would have been more motivated and determined to set and accomplish fitness goals.
As a nutrition educator, I believe CHAARG would be a tool to supplement nutritional information coming from private sessions with a dietician. It is one thing to listen to a professional, but it is another for that information to be supported by your peers. Not only that, but being in such a large community of people, all with a similar goal in mind, makes the journey more fun and enjoyable.