I love super foods because along with enabling the incorporation of additional vitamins and nutrients into one's diet, but they are also flexible foods that can be incorporated in most meals and meal types with relative ease. For example, superfoods such as leafy greens, legumes and sweet potatoes can be incorporated in multiple types of meals without significantly altering the health benefits and taste palette of the specific dishes. The incorporation of super foods help diversify both my taste palette and the techniques and recipes of the food I usually prepare and consume. With the incorporation of superfoods into my diet, I can still eat foods that I enjoy while adding more nutrients and vitamins to my everyday life and diet. Superfoods are an important component to incorporate into my diet because they enable me to incorporate nutrients that can potentially extend my life while I still enjoy my life. One reason that I like superfoods is that they enable me to expand upon the diet and recipes of foods that I enjoy to help me explore new culinary boundaries in my everyday life. For example, some of my favorite superfoods that I love to incorporate in my diet include sweet potatoes, spinach, garlic, eggs and legume-based foods. Out of those superfoods, I would have to say that legume-based foods, particularly black beans because they are an incredibly flexible food to add to any meal of the day. Superfoods are an incredibly flexible item for me to incorporate into any aspect of my diet because they enable me to start my daily dietary and culinary journeys with a blank canvas. The methods in which I incorporate superfoods into my diet may vary depending on the day or dish being prepared. Sometimes they are the entree, on other occasions a side dish or even just as a small snack or minor component of an entire entree. With these various methods in which I incorporate superfoods into my diet, I can incorporate superfoods as a staple dish or ingredient in my everyday life. This is the reason why I love superfoods because many of them are incredibly versatile and flexible in regards to where and when they can be incorporated in my everyday life. Superfoods offer both quantitative and qualitative advantages in regards to my dietary health, along with my quality of life. Whether it is part of an occasional snack or as the central entree, superfoods will enable me to gain the nutrients and vitamins necessary to both extend my life and increase the quality of my life.

The wisest thing that I have ever heard was from my high school AP Physics teacher, in which he always told me and my other classmates to "always question everything." This was particularly important for me because I have always been a curious person, so hearing words such as that encourages me to nurture my curiosity as best and as long as possible. This is also important statement in regards to navigating every aspect of my life because as I start to become more and more independent, I need to question every aspect of my life to determine what is best for me professionally, mentally, emotionally, academically in regards to my graduate education, and what will enable me to help the others around me as best as I can. In a world that is filled with uncertainty, it is important to question whether or not what information, actions or thoughts are reliable and best for entering the next stage of my life. The phrase "Question Everything", also helps drive me deeper into my scientific curiosities within my field because it encourages me to analyze all aspects of an inquiry my project and or research. Overall, I agree with both the sentiment and direct diction of the phrase "question everything" because it enables me to both navigate and inspect every aspect of my life so that I know what is best from and future research projects I will be a part of in the future.

I believe that it is important to live a healthy life because through living a healthy life, one is able to have the potential to enjoy and thrive in life in all of its facets. For example, through living a healthy lifestyle, one is able to main both physiological, psychological and environmental stability, which will enable one to further increase their potential of getting the most out of life as one possibly can. I do my best to maintain a healthy lifestyle by doing my best to take care of myself in all aspects of my life. Even when there are occasions where I slipped from my healthier routines, I always try my best to get back to the healthier routines. Overall, living a healthy lifestyle is important to me because it enables me to use my body and mind to be the fullest version of myself that I can possibly be with potentially more time and energy to do it. One of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle lifestyle is that I would be able to maintain physical, mental/emotional and environmental stability in all facets of my life. For example, I do my best to take care of my physical health through being conscious of the choices I make in my life, doing my best to make the healthiest choices for my body and prevent exasperating negative health effects.To enable the development of a healthy mindset, I try to incorporate healthy habits in my life that would be beneficial for my mental health. I make sure to surround myself with supportive people and habits so that I will be able to better create a healthier environment for myself. Through choices such as maintaining healthy diet choices, light exercise at least three times a week and taking most precautions to nurture my mental health; I do my best to incorporate healthy lifestyle habits so that I will have the potential to have more time to enjoy the most out of life in both the present and the future. Even when there have been times where I have slipped out of healthier habits, I always do my best to return to consistent practice of these routines. Maintaining healthy life practices is important for me because they will not only improve the ability of my physical and mental faculties, but it will enable me to get the best out of my life for a potentially longer lifespan. Practicing healthy life habits and routines are also important to me because there is heart disease and diabetes among members of both sides of my family and I want to do my best so that legacy will not be passed on to either me or possible future generations in my family. So by trying to incorporate healthier habits and choices into my life, I will be able to be the best self that I possibly can, which will enable me the to live the best life I possibly can.

The scientific discovery that fascinates me has the potential to further advance research and treatment against the development of certain diseases and health conditions. My favorite scientific discovery is the discovery of the CRISPR gene editing tool. Clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats, or CRISPR, is a tool that has been developed by Jennifer Doudna that enables a section of a specific gene to be removed or inserted into a specific area of that gene's sequence. This tool is commonly used with the Cas9 protein, which plays an important role in immunological defense against DNA viruses and plasmids, thus making up CRISPR's most common form as CRISPR-Cas9. This discovery fascinates me because it has the potential to completely alter not only the developmental pathways certain conditions and diseases, but also whether or not an individual will develop or even be at risk for an observed condition. Although yes, there needs to be discussion on the ethical uses of gene editing through CRISPR because there is also the potential that this gene editing tool could be misused or be used for ethically questionable intentions. Despite these potential complications, CRISPR-Cas9 and other forms of CRISPR have a wide range of current and future applications within biomedical research. The scientific discovery of gene editing tools such as CRISPR could enable the alteration of both the development and individual risk levels of certain conditions, thus enabling the development of more specific and individualized forms of medicine for current and future patients.