Nutrition is a complex subject, one with many interpretations and misguided advice. All over the internet, there are many "experts" suggesting dangerous diets or life-depleting habits. I plan on making a positive impact on the world by becoming a Registered Dietitian and promoting healthy, safe eating habits. Growing up as a Hispanic in the United States caused me to face conflicting viewpoints when it came to cultural foods. On social media platforms, I noticed foods from various cultures being linked as "unhealthy" promoting salads and more American-typical food. They would state how the foods many people grew up with were a "ticking-time bomb." This caused feelings of shame and regret for eating the foods I grew up with. Cultural foods, however, are not necessarily unhealthy, as these pages may promote. I remember growing up eating rice, beans, and steak with a side salad- a common meal many Cubans grew up with. Social media, however, made many conflicting claims stating rice and beans are not a healthy food. Instead, they suggested switching to green smoothies and acai bowls, trying to erase our cultural foods and nutritional value. When I learned about the field of nutrition and the skilled Dietitians, trying to destigmatize diet, it piqued my interest. I was taught through qualified professionals, that my cultural foods can be healthy. I did not need to erase part of my identity. It helped me stop feeling ashamed of eating the foods I grew up with while making healthy eating habits. I learned that a lot of the information on social media is false and uses scare tactics to promote dangerous diets. However, there is still a growing platform of influencers, promoting toxic diet plans. They encourage a plethora of fasting methods, weight loss pills, and a calorie consumption fit for the needs of a toddler. These plans can cause people to delve into dangerous eating habits like anorexia. Individuals do not realize the physical and mental harm they partake in with these eating habits. As a Registered Dietitian, I would be able to create diet plans, track patients' levels, and promote healthy diets without the conflicting narrative of social media. People should not have part of their culture removed or listen to misguided, potentially dangerous advice. I strive to remove the stigma against healthy diets, paving the way for balance and happiness. I want to make a positive impact by preventing the spread of more misinformation.

Nutrition is a complex subject, one with many interpretations and misguided advice. All over the internet, there are many "experts" suggesting dangerous diets or life-depleting habits. I aim to become a Registered Dietitian and promote healthy, safe eating habits. Growing up as a Hispanic in the United States caused me to face conflicting viewpoints when it came to cultural foods. On social media platforms, I noticed foods from various cultures being linked as "unhealthy" promoting salads and more American-typical food. Cultural foods, however, are not necessarily unhealthy, as these pages may promote. I remember growing up eating rice, beans, and steak with a side salad- a common meal many Cubans grew up with. Social media, however, made many conflicting claims stating rice and beans are not a healthy food. Instead, they suggested switching to green smoothies and acai bowls, trying to erase our cultural foods and nutritional value. When I learned about the field of nutrition and the skilled Dietitians, trying to destigmatize diet, it piqued my interest. I was taught through qualified professionals, that my cultural foods can be healthy. I did not need to erase part of my identity. It helped me stop feeling ashamed of eating the foods I grew up with while making healthy eating habits. As a Registered Dietitian, I would be able to create diet plans, track patients' levels, and promote healthy diets without the conflicting narrative of social media. People should not have part of their culture removed or listen to misguided, potentially dangerous advice. I strive to remove the stigma against healthy diets, paving the way for balance and happiness.

I live in Books, The place where I can jump between worlds, The place where I can fight dragons and learn new spells, In this world, I become a reflection of the people I meet, Feeling their cries, horrors, and joys, Longing for a chance to immerse myself in their shoes, Reading temporarily grants me that wish, A refuge from the mundane nature of modern life, Crashing me into the complex world-building of other like-minded individuals, With the same creative imagination and longing as I, Do they know the impact their stories create? In a frenzy, I stay up until 3 am reading and exploring the new worlds they make, My eyes rapidly reading the lines, Soaking up the scenery in my mind, I live in various worlds, Never wanting to settle for a sedentary life, Never wanting to be confined to one, Instead, I yearn to see where my next adventure will be.

I used to munch a lot on cookies, chips, candy, and drink cans of soda. I was skinny so I used to think I was healthy no matter how much junk food I ate. But I was wrong. I would get hungry often, causing me to eat more of these foods. I had little energy and couldn't focus properly in school. I would scoff at those people that insisted on eating "all-natural foods" and were wary of eating any processed foods. I mean food is food, right? Wrong. Processed foods can have lasting-long term effects on us. A lot of foods contain an ingredient called "Red Dye 40" which is derived from petroleum and is banned in Europe due to some studies showing it can increase your risks of getting cancer. A lot of the ingredients that are in junk food in America are banned in Europe and other continents yet the United States still lets us consume it. This is why I am passionate about natural foods because even though this does not seem like an issue now, it will be in the future when our health will be fragile. Natural foods are not toxic. Nuts, fruits, vegetables, beans, etc all are good and healthy natural foods. Some people choose not to eat natural foods because they find them "disgusting." However, if you cook them the right way they will be healthy and delicious. Not only does processed food damage us, but it also damages our environment. For example, sugar is a key ingredient in a lot of processed foods but sugar is unhealthy for us and the environment. Sugar is responsible for a lot of loss of biodiversity. Sugar requires pesticides and massive uses of water. This alone causes significant damage to the environment. The water gets polluted with all the chemicals and this causes more harm to the already limited use of water. When you start eating natural foods, you are not only helping yourself, but you are also helping the environment. You will immediately start noticing amazing differences! However, only one person switching to consuming natural foods does not help. It must turn into a group effort. This is why when I have to write a speech for school on any topic, I choose to write on the harms of processed foods. The more people know about the actual damage in processed foods, the more likely they will start taking action. Before I eat food from the supermarket, I check the ingredients list. If a package of food has long words that are hard to pronounce, I know not to buy them! I can always make healthier and natural versions of those loved junk foods at home! I am not for eating a food item at the expense of it damaging my health! With the right actions, I believe everyone can start making healthier and more natural decisions with food.

The wisest thing i have ever heard was from my older brother. He said when people tell you the sky is the limit, that is a lie; the limit is what you want it to be. If you want the clouds to be the limit,it'll be your limit, if you want the ground to be your limit, it'll be your limit, if you want the galaxy to be your limit, that will be your limit. My older brother has inspired me to reach for what I actually want and not accept anything less. Since then, I have grown confident. When I know I deserve something, I work hard for it because I can be worthy of anything as long as I try. People say the sky is limit but why the sky? Why reach so low? Why not go for the universe? Every person on Earth has potential to thrive, they just have to realize it. People say "I am never going to be rich" or "I will never get accepted into college." Well if you say things like that, you are going to end up believing it and you will not achieve that goal because you give up. The only limit we have is the limit we put on ourselves. If we do not set a limit for ourselves, we can reach further beyond the stars.

Patience is important to me because without it you could miss something important. You can be one minute away from winning something like a $500 scholarship but because you were not patient, you missed out on the chance. When you are patient, you get to prove to yourself that something really matters to you. People want to hurry up and get things over with but the results turn out to be less than satisfactory and they have to redo whatever they were doing again. If they were just patient in the first place, none of that would've happened! Lots of children and teenagers are impatient to finish studying and go have fun and end up rushing through it. The time for their test comes and they end up failing it. That happened to me once, I did not want to study for my AP Psychology test and got a C. The next time I studied for a different AP Psychology test and I got an A! In conclusion, patience is important because it helps us make sure we do things correctly and give it our best shot. If we just rush in all things in life, we wouldn't be able to fully appreciate those moments.

People always say “do not judge a book by its cover” yet in the book Wonder, people judge the main character August by how he looks. He has a disfigured face but other than that, he is just a normal kid! Yet all over the book, people judge August. Wonder has to be my favorite book because it teaches a valuable lesson on how we should not judge someone by how they look and must always be kind to each other. August has experienced a lot of surgeries in his life because as a baby, his skull did not grow correctly. His life was at risk but thanks to the countless surgeries, he was able to live. He went to his first ever public school on the first day of fifth grade. Instantly, people start judging him and think that something is wrong with August. We all always say not to judge someone by how they look but people still do it! Wonder makes you go into the shoes of August and feel like what it is to be judged by how you look or act. Reading the book, people will think again about how they perceive people. I have been judged before. People have often that I am a boring person who has no fun because I like to participate in class and study hard. However, they judge me and don’t get to know the real me. My main priorities is school but I also enjoy regular things like rollerskating, drawing, and singing. I think every person should read the book Wonder at least once in their lives. It could emphasize an important life lesson we learned young but never really pay heed too. Wonder can teach you a great life lesson

Since I started my school days, I would love to grab a paper and pen or pencil and write different types of stories. I have countless stories from when I was aged five to now, almost nine years later. My favorite piece of art is writing. It has to be writing because the way that random words can make a story or a poem carrying a meaning is beautiful. People can carry their emotions in writing. I want to be a future author myself and am in the process of writing a manuscript. Writing has saved my life in a way. It helped me get through hard times and helped me learn more vocabulary and writing skills for school. Some people don't consider writing, art because they think you have to draw something for it to count as a genre of art. However, in writing, you are drawing a picture in your mind. You are putting random words on paper and making them mean something.

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” -Oprah Winfrey. We humans complain a lot about the things we don’t have. Maybe they didn’t receive the car of their dreams, the new video game they want, the latest fashions, they reflect a lot on what they don’t have that they don’t realize all the things they have in front of them. This quote means a lot to me because I used to always think about all the things my friends had that I didn’t because they were wealthier than me. However, I realized how many things I actually have, clean water, clothes on my back, a room, a house, food on the table, the ability to order takeouts, a loving family, and so many other things we take for granted. I now focus on the things I have and how much I appreciate them than the things I don’t have. I became a happier person when I counted my blessings and it truly changed my outlook on life.