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Kaitlyn Livings
Mr. Luikham
English 101
September 9, 2016
Health and Wellness
All the things that have made me interested in health and nutrition came from people very
close to me, including family, sports teams and personal trainers teaching me how to be aware of
nutritional benefits. Nutrition has become a large part of my life, and I plan to center my career
goals around the concept. I have been brought up exercising and eating right and I have managed
to develop a passion for the profession of a dietitian. I have grown up knowing the benefits of
healthy living and I want to center my life around helping others realize the importance of diet
and nutrition.
Growing up my parents have always had a big impact on me. My mother and father
encouraged me to eat healthy. My brother and I would be allowed to have candy and sweets
when we wanted, but they would always preach moderation. As a child I was very active, always
playing, running around and never bored. That is one reason why my parents would let me eat
foods that were unhealthy for me because they knew I would burn it off later. In my childhood
home we had a room downstairs that was just for working out; I used to call it “out little gym.” It
was right next to the playroom and you could see into it because there was no door to separate
the playroom and the gym. I believe I was around the age of six when I first realized the
importance of working out. I was sitting in the playroom, playing with some toys and my mother
was in the gym running on the treadmill. She was watching television as she was running and it

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was set on a cooking show. I walked into the room, and like every little girl, I wanted to be like
my mother. We had a couple workout machines in the room: a treadmill, an elliptical, a bike
machine and some free hand weights. When I walked in the room she got off the treadmill,
breathing heavy and sweating. I wanted to get on the treadmill just like she had; so I hopped up,
started the machine and started off on a slow pace. I did not really want to workout, but just
wanted to have fun on this new machine that I had never used before. I did not stay on the
treadmill for long. Once my mother left the room I left with her. This is the first time that I
remember being interested in exercise and wanted to try it out.
Later in middle school and into high school I became much more interested in the
concept of exercise. My uncle was going through school and he was studying to be a doctor;
therefore, he knew a lot about the health field and informed me of many nutrition based
information that I now know today. In this period of my life, I really started to research and
explore foods that were good for you and nutritional diet plans. I learned that eating meals at the
same time everyday and not skipping meals is so important. My father usually does not eat
breakfast and when I learned that skipping breakfast was awful for your health I tried very hard
to get him to start eating breakfast. I tried many different approaches to try and get my family to
become more healthy. I want my family to notice the importance of food so this past year I
started to cook dinner for my family. It was all very healthy foods and my family surprisingly
loved all the meals I made for them. I think my mother liked them just because it took the
cooking role off of her. My family has always been very supportive of my love for nutrition and
since I have introduced the need for healthy food they always want to keep healthy food in the
house.

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Another role model in my life that has made me interested in nutrition and the importance
of staying in shape would be sports teams. Since I can remember I have always been involved in
a team sport. When I was a little girl I tried everything from classical ballet to soccer. As I grew
up I gave up most of the sports I played as a kid and mainly just concentrated on two sports. In
high school, I played volleyball and ran track, and being apart of these teams showed me the
importance of a good workout routine. When I played volleyball we would have certain days for
running and strength training. We would start with the same warm up routine and then go into a
different workout each day. I remember Fridays were always yoga day, my favorite day. I never
knew the importance of stretching that goes along with working out until my coach introduced
yoga to me. I am still not very good at remembering to stretch after a warm up. Doing yoga with
my volleyball team in high school really taught me that having a relaxing stretching day is very
important to allow your body to recover. It helps all of your muscles relax and recharge for a day
and be good as new when you start cardio for the following day. Participating in sports teams has
really developed an influence on my workout routines and diet plans.
Another way I learned about nutrition and the right exercises for your body is from a
personal trainer. I started exercising with a personal trainer my senior year in high school. At this
point, I already knew a lot about nutrition, I just wanted some guided experience in exercise
routines. My trainer and I met twice a week to workout for an hour each time. Every day was
different, as we never did the same exercises twice. I loved how she was always teaching me new
things, so when I would workout on my own I could incorporate her exercises with mine.
Without the help from an expert trainer I feel as if the workouts I made on my own would not be
the same as they are today without her help.

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In conclusion, all of these things, my family, researching on my own, cooking, sports
teams and personal trainers have all played a large role in teaching me the importance of
nutrition in every day life. I have grown up with people all around me influencing me to take the
path that I am headed for today. Without these influences in my life I do not think nutrition
would be as important to me as it is now. I feel extremely confident that being a registered
dietitian is the right choice for me.