Tell us about your academic/career short-term and long-term goals.
How has your Hispanic heritage influenced these goals?
Every day at lunch, while my friends eat greasy pizza or mystery meat, I devour Quinoa with cage-free grass-fed chicken and alfalfa sprouts; lentils with spinach, tomatoes and goat cheese; or vegetable soup with a cactus pear for dessert. The latter always arouses the most comments from my friends, who are left aghast at how I could savor every bite of a soup that resembles green vomit. What my friends don't seem to comprehend is that I eat foods like quinoa, lentils, and "Shrek-soup" for a reason. Even though Quinoa might resemble the porridge Goldilocks stole from the three little bears, it was actually considered the sacred "chisaya mama" or "mother of all grains" to my ancestors- the Incas. It was Incan tradition for the emperor to sow the first seeds of the season with a golden shovel every year to signify their importance. After all, these tiny seeds were solely responsible for sustaining the empire's entire army. Now I'm no Incan warrior, but I don't mind the fact that Quinoa's high quantity of trace minerals likes magnesium and copper prevent cancer and that its 9 essential amino acids help my muscles form. And don't even let me get started on the benefits of lentils. So why do most Americans still prefer Big Macs to spinach? Because most haven't had the privilege to grow up in a country overflowing with healthy superfoods.
For years my mother and I would feast on every unique type of plant and grain available in Peru; as a result we'd enjoy radiant health. Quinoa is only one of the myriads of superfoods unique to Peru; there's also Sacha-Inchi, Noni, Acai, and Maca. While those foods sound like gibberish to the average American, Peruvians devour them like cops devour donuts. So after a lifetime of consuming foods even NASA has incorporated into all astronauts' diets, it's not surprising that our transition into America's "land of the grease and the brave" caused my mother's health to plummet. In America, she began to battle with intense stomach problems, fighting back with side-effect-loaded Nexium. Every day I had to helplessly watch her stomach health decline until I found myself in the emergency room two weekends in a row, holding open the door to the bathroom as she vomited, wishing we could be crocheting red and green doilies while watching Christmas movies on Hallmark together instead. That night I went home and researched stomach pain cures, determined to find something. I found it-Aloe Vera juice. It helps control stomach acidity, the root of my mom's problems. Not surprisingly, my mom was skeptical. However, when we read that Aloe is commonly utilized in Peru to heal stomach problems, we decided to give it a shot. Amazingly, a five dollar month's supply bottle was able to combat what a prescription that costs up to four dollars per pill couldn't. Now her once life-consuming pains are a thing of the past. Since then, I've learned that stomach problems aren't the only thing nature can cure; there are thousands of foods and natural supplements that can hinder the most troublesome conditions. So, like Andrew Weil, the pioneer of alternative medicine, said, we must "get people back into the kitchen and combat the trend toward processed food and fast food." My Peruvian heritage has influenced me to make a career of studying alternative medicine methods. Thomas Edison once said "The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease." I will be that doctor.
How has your Hispanic heritage influenced these goals?
Every day at lunch, while my friends eat greasy pizza or mystery meat, I devour Quinoa with cage-free grass-fed chicken and alfalfa sprouts; lentils with spinach, tomatoes and goat cheese; or vegetable soup with a cactus pear for dessert. The latter always arouses the most comments from my friends, who are left aghast at how I could savor every bite of a soup that resembles green vomit. What my friends don't seem to comprehend is that I eat foods like quinoa, lentils, and "Shrek-soup" for a reason. Even though Quinoa might resemble the porridge Goldilocks stole from the three little bears, it was actually considered the sacred "chisaya mama" or "mother of all grains" to my ancestors- the Incas. It was Incan tradition for the emperor to sow the first seeds of the season with a golden shovel every year to signify their importance. After all, these tiny seeds were solely responsible for sustaining the empire's entire army. Now I'm no Incan warrior, but I don't mind the fact that Quinoa's high quantity of trace minerals likes magnesium and copper prevent cancer and that its 9 essential amino acids help my muscles form. And don't even let me get started on the benefits of lentils. So why do most Americans still prefer Big Macs to spinach? Because most haven't had the privilege to grow up in a country overflowing with healthy superfoods.
For years my mother and I would feast on every unique type of plant and grain available in Peru; as a result we'd enjoy radiant health. Quinoa is only one of the myriads of superfoods unique to Peru; there's also Sacha-Inchi, Noni, Acai, and Maca. While those foods sound like gibberish to the average American, Peruvians devour them like cops devour donuts. So after a lifetime of consuming foods even NASA has incorporated into all astronauts' diets, it's not surprising that our transition into America's "land of the grease and the brave" caused my mother's health to plummet. In America, she began to battle with intense stomach problems, fighting back with side-effect-loaded Nexium. Every day I had to helplessly watch her stomach health decline until I found myself in the emergency room two weekends in a row, holding open the door to the bathroom as she vomited, wishing we could be crocheting red and green doilies while watching Christmas movies on Hallmark together instead. That night I went home and researched stomach pain cures, determined to find something. I found it-Aloe Vera juice. It helps control stomach acidity, the root of my mom's problems. Not surprisingly, my mom was skeptical. However, when we read that Aloe is commonly utilized in Peru to heal stomach problems, we decided to give it a shot. Amazingly, a five dollar month's supply bottle was able to combat what a prescription that costs up to four dollars per pill couldn't. Now her once life-consuming pains are a thing of the past. Since then, I've learned that stomach problems aren't the only thing nature can cure; there are thousands of foods and natural supplements that can hinder the most troublesome conditions. So, like Andrew Weil, the pioneer of alternative medicine, said, we must "get people back into the kitchen and combat the trend toward processed food and fast food." My Peruvian heritage has influenced me to make a career of studying alternative medicine methods. Thomas Edison once said "The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease." I will be that doctor.
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