Being a person of many passions and areas of interest, deciding one thing I care about was difficult. I thought back over my whole life and the experiences that I have had that have shaped me. One experience shaped a lot of who I am, and that was my time with Girls on the Run. Through my experience with Girls on the Run, I learned positive self-esteem, which I still continuously struggle with and many other women struggle with as well. I also learned to run and the importance of exercise to stay fit and healthy. From that point on, I have been a runner to my core. I ran for 6 years from middle school to high school and continue to run in college. I just completed my first marathon and the feeling that I got when I finished was incredible. Running gives me an outlet to be the best I can be in every area of my life. I want to help others find that outlet.
I care about the importance of young girls understanding that they are unique and beautiful through nutrition and fitness. I want them to use these tools to be the best version of themselves. The doesn't necessarily mean to be skinny and become societies version of beautiful, but to be fit and healthy in order that they can live out and carry out their own dreams. I want to work in urban communities to create safe places for young girls to learn about what makes them special. They can be strong leaders in their communities and truly make a difference. I believe that proper nutrition and fitness can help that possible.
After four years of learning about the power of food and nutrition, I believe that nutrition is the root cause for many social issues that people face, specifically young girls. As a child, nutrition is important for proper growth and development of bones, brain, and all other parts of the body. Poverty is a underlying problem for many social issues. For food security, if a family is in a lower income area, food is harder to find and on top of that, nutritious food is basically nonexistent in those areas. If a child does not get enough of the vitamins and minerals needed in their diet, their brain is not working at it's highest capacity. This effect their school work and causes them to be behind in their grade. Their education is limited by their access to nutritious food. Education is a common vehicle out of poverty and into leadership positions. Without it, young girls will struggle with discipline issues, that could be molded into leadership qualities. The dreams that every child has are slowly taken out of reach due to lack of nutritious food and education deficits.
I understand that there are many other causes for poverty and lack of leadership from women, but from my passions and experiences, nutrition and fitness play a key role in breaking those issues apart. Running and fitness gave me a passion that allows me to process situations and to be the true me. Nutrition allows for my running passion to continue and to have my mind work properly every day in order to gain knowledge in classes. When I personally do not eat enough nutritious food in a day, I can tell that I am tired, slow to respond and not engaged in class or meetings. Nutrition allows me to find the leader that I want to be everyday. That is my desire for other young women, because we need more women leaders in our world, making a difference.
I am inspired by your ambition to reduce food insecurity among women, which will, in turn, lead to more female leaders in our society. I think it is great that you care so much about nutrition for young women because women, infants, and children are often the ones who suffer the most from food insecurity. We discussed the issue of food insecurity and read a social policy report about it in a Leadership in Community Service class that I am currently taking. Food insecurity is the most important nutrition-related public health challenge facing the U.S. today, and food insecurity affects 14.7% of all U.S. households, as of 2009. I do not think that many people realize how big of an issue food insecurity actually is. I think that most of us will probably never fully comprehend food insecurity because we have never experienced it. It is easy for one to get caught up in thinking "it will never happen to me," but hunger can affect anyone, even when they least expect it. An article in the Columbus Dispatch that I read recently about a woman named Elsie Hunt is a prime example. She was the one donating canned goods to food drives until her husband's earnings quickly and sharply declined, and, at the same time, she chose to stay home to care for her daughter, which resulted in her family being forced to cut back on groceries and other expenses. I cannot imagine having to choose between paying the bills and purchasing medication for my daughter, as she did.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that more should be done to help those suffering from food insecurity. I believe that the key to overcoming food insecurity starts with reducing poverty. As the social policy report I read indicates, reducing poverty will lead to reductions in food insecurity. I think your ideas are an excellent start to overcoming this challenge, and I think that your passion for this will take you very far.
I really liked your blog post because it is true that nutrition and fitness is a major problem among girls who don't necessarily like their body. I have multiple friends who have developed eating disorders, and watched it take over their lives. They finally received help, but it's scary how much one part of a person's life can affect them in such a negative way. I'm glad you want to help raise awareness about why a healthy diet is so important, but you said you had a hard time choosing a major? Aren't you a dietetics major?....Sounds like a perfect fit to me!:)
ReplyDeleteLydia,
ReplyDeleteI find your passion to be super inspiring! It addresses a lot of issues within society including food disparities, nutritional deficiencies and lack of self-confidence. Being a public health major, all of these things interest me as well so I really enjoyed reading your post.
Keep on pushing to make change in this world, because with an attitude and vision like yours you can make a difference in many girls' lives!
-Sarah Rust