Mikaela Santiago is a first-year student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is studying Forestry and Fire Science. Santiago accepted her admission to Cal Poly with the intentions of gaining knowledge in fire fighting and, someday, becoming a city fire fighter.
All of Santiago’s daily life choices are made consciously so they align with her future goals. Mikaela is an avid gym goer as well as an active member of the vegetarian community.
Photograph by Mateo Livingstone
Being a female entering a profession that is dominated by males, Santiago has to be in the same if not better shape than all of the boys. Her choices are driven with the intent of being better than any male in the fire fighting profession, and this all starts with her health.
Santiago engages in daily activities to stay fit and stay on top of her game to be the best. She practices extensive weight training at the gym everyday to keep up her core and upper body strength. She also does this to maintain good bodily health. She is an avid user of BEAM vegan protein powder, especially the peanut butter flavor.
BEAM carries many different flavors of protein powders that are vegan and not made from whey protein. They also have many different types of supplement powders to keep everyone’s diets balanced.
Her strenuous daily activities require extra amounts of protein consumption than a normal person, so Santiago takes protein supplements to balance out the lack of protein in her vegetarian diet.
As well as being a “gym bro,” Santiago is also involved in a lot of outdoor activities to improve her fitness. Santiago part of the Cal Poly’s Plants, Peaks, and Pals Club and participated on hikes all over the community to take in the natural beauty.
Mikaela Santiago’s love for fire fighting, fitness, and the environment has also taken her on the biggest journey of all, becoming a vegetarian.
Photograph by Mateo Livingstone
Her vegetarian journey started about four years ago when she was a freshman in high school. Santiago was an avid meat-eater because that was what she was fed growing up in a Mexican household.
Her switch to vegetarianism was a shock to her family, but they were supportive of her decision to take action in her life. For her, this lifestyle change was not just a moral thing, but also she recognized a greater issue at hand.
While Santiago was not too thrilled at the killing and mistreatment of animals, she also knew that these animals contributed to a great amount of environmental destruction.
Cows in the livestock and dairy industries require a great deal of space and natural resources in order to provide for a carnivorous human population. Water and land are used in an unsustainable way. In addition, cows are also a large contributor to methane emissions, which primarily come from their waste.
Infographic by Christian Guthier
Environmental Foodie 