Eating healthy sounds so simple. You just eat grilled chicken and veggies, and you’re all set, right?

But let’s admit it: Eating healthy is actually pretty hard. Not only are you supposed to eat balanced, calorie-conscious meals, but you’re also supposed to cook them all at home using fresh ingredients every day. That’s time-consuming and expensive, and the food isn’t even guaranteed to taste good.

That’s where a meal-prepping service like DuMealz comes in. Chat DuBoise, DuMealz owner, got his start in the meal-prepping service by cooking for his personal training clients, who saw results thanks to the healthy, good-tasting food he made for them. He realized that not everyone had his same level of discipline, that not everyone could eat bland, boiled chicken and vegetables every day.

“I realized that diet was so important because I realized that when people don’t enjoy what they eat, they don’t stick to it,” DuBoise said.

He soon connected with other personal trainers and began cooking for their clients too. He started DuMealz as a means of providing healthy, convenient, and delicious food to people looking to live healthier lives.

Having expanded to 14 cities across South Georgia and with business booming, DuBoise was looking for a way to motivate people to live healthier lives and to give back to their communities at the same time. He came up with a community service based fitness challenge that will begin Aug. 1 and end Oct. 31.

DuBoise said that the purpose of the challenge is to create a positive mental change within participants and to uplift the community. According to him, the act of giving back releases endorphins in the brain, which leads to a positive mental attitude. Repeating those behaviors over time leads to a positive mental change, which translates into leading a healthier life and promoting and maintaining weight loss.

During those twelve weeks, participants in Moultrie and Valdosta will be weighed each week, but they will only qualify for the weigh-in if they have performed community service, given a donation, or committed some random act of kindness. Prizes amounting to around $3,000-$5,000 in worth will be awarded.

Participants in the challenge are expected to use the honor system as no “policing” will be done. Participants are encouraged to take pictures of themselves performing community service or random acts of kindness and post to social media with the hashtag #duWERK as a means of encouraging others to take part too.

DuBoise hopes to do the challenge again next February-April and to expand to include more cities across the region.

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Here are a few suggested community service projects or random acts of kindness:

Donate clothing to shelters

Volunteer at your church

Donated canned goods

Buy breakfast or coffee for the person behind you in the drive-thru

Pick up trash in your neighborhood

Hand out water bottles to the homeless

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Health Life July-August 2017

Weighing in and Giving Back

Written by: Anna Limoges