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After everything I´ve learned so far, it was finally time to put everything together in order to create an action plan focused on having a complete and balanced diet.

I started by creating a meal plan using Prospre, which is an online tool and a mobile app that can help you create a daily meal plan including each recipe according to the amount of calories you want to intake, as well as with your age, height and weight. After putting in some additional information from what I´ve learned from this activity, the app generated me a solid meal plan that I was really happy with and it even included the shopping list for every ingredient I need for when I go to the supermarket. I personally really liked the meal plan the app proposed to me, so I'll start following as soon as next week starts. Even though the app seems trustworthy, I would like to have a second opinion on this meal plan, that's why I would like to schedule a meeting with the nutritionist in my campus so that they can check my meal plan and see if they would make any modifications. My meal plan is shown next:

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Breakfast:

2 fried eggs.

3 slices of turkey bacon.

1 Avocado toast (70 grams of avocado and 1 slice of whole wheat bread).

67.5 grams of grapes.

Lunch:

93.75 grams of salmon with a dash of salt, pepper and 0.75 tsp of canola oil.

112.5 grams of quinoa.

85 grams of raw carrots.

100 grams of cherry tomatoes.

Dinner:

187.5 grams of macaroni and cheese with vegetables (peas and carrots) and made with skimmed milk.

85 grams of brussel sprouts.

85 grams of celery.

Snack options:

85 grams of berries.

1 banana.

1 orange (slices).

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Breakfast:

1 whole wheat bagel with margarine and cottage cheese.

1 apple.

Lunch:

300 grams of chicken stir fry with 118.5 grams of rice, 63.75 grams of chicken breast, 90 grams of peas and carrots, 2.25 tbsp of teriyaki sauce and 0.75 tsp of canola oil.

85 grams of brussel sprouts.

85 grams of string beans.

Dinner:

Grilled chicken salad with 56.25 grams of chicken breast, 56.25 grams of corn, 56.25 grams of tomatoes, 75 grams of avocados, 11.25 grams of onions, 37.5 grams of romaine lettuce and 15 grams of vinaigrette.

63.75 grams of edamame.

100 grams of cherry tomatoes.

Snack options:

225 grams of greek yogurt.

85 grams of berries.

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Breakfast:

43.5 grams of wheat cereal with skimmed milk.

1 banana.

1 slice of whole wheat bread.

Lunch:

Shrimp stir fry with 118.5 grams of rice, 90 grams of peas and carrots, 63.75 grams of shrimp, 2.25 tbsp of teriyaki sauce and 0.75 tbsp of canola oil.

63.75 grams of string beans.

100 grams of cherry tomatoes.

Dinner:

Grilled chicken salad with 56.25 grams of chicken breast, 56.25 grams of corn, 56.25 grams of tomatoes, 75 grams of avocados, 11.25 grams of onions, 37.5 grams of romaine lettuce and 15 grams of vinaigrette.

187.5 grams of sweet potato.

85 grams of asparagus.

85 grams of celery.

Snack options:

6 whole wheat crackers with cheese.

1 apple.

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Breakfast:

1.5 oz of oatmeal.

150 grams of greek yogurt.

Lunch:

93.75 grams of salmon with a dash of salt, pepper and 0.75 tsp of canola oil.

1 cup of cooked rice.

85 grams of raw bell peppers.

Dinner:

Grilled chicken salad with 56.25 grams of chicken breast, 56.25 grams of corn, 56.25 grams of tomatoes, 75 grams of avocados, 11.25 grams of onions, 37.5 grams of romaine lettuce and 15 grams of vinaigrette.

1 banana.

Snack options:

1 orange.

1 apple.

85 grams of celery.

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Breakfast:

1 whole wheat bagel with margarine.

1 apple.

67.5 grams of grapes.

Lunch:

180 grams of chicken breast cooked with 1.5 tsp of canola oil.

112.5 grams of quinoa.

63.75 grams of celery.

Dinner:

Shrimp stir fry with 118.5 grams of rice, 90 grams of peas and carrots, 63.75 grams of shrimp, 2.25 tbsp of teriyaki sauce and 0.75 tbsp of canola oil.

100 grams of cherry tomatoes.

Snack options:

1 kiwi.

30 grams of almonds.

Strawberry banana smoothie with 150 grams of strawberries, 75 grams of banana, 125 grams of skimmed milk and 125 grams of vanilla greek yogurt.

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Breakfast:

4 scrambled egg whites.

3 slices of turkey bacon.

1 Avocado toast (70 grams of avocado and 1 slice of whole wheat bread).

1 kiwi.

Lunch:

Cheat meal.

Dinner:

2.25 oz of oatmeal.

187.5 grams of sweet potato.

85 grams of asparagus.

Snack options:

1 apple.

1 banana.

1 orange.

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Breakfast:

7 scrambled egg whites.

1 whole wheat bagel with margarine.

85 grams of assorted berries.

Lunch:

Cheat meal.

Dinner:

187.5 grams of macaroni and cheese with vegetables (peas and carrots) and made with skimmed milk.

Spinach salad with 45 grams of spinach, 15 grams of strawberries, 7.5 grams of onions, 11.25 grams of walnuts, 0.75 tbsp of vinaigrette.

127.5 grams of boiled green peas.

Snack options:

1 Slice of whole wheat bread with margarine.

85 grams of raw carrots.

85 grams of celery.

*Every day I´ll try to stick with my normal water drinking schedule since it's already pretty good (4-4.5 L a day).

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In addition to following my meal plan, I would also like to follow some of the strategies proposed in the ideate phase that I think would be beneficial to my nutrition plan. These things are:

Reducing the amount of condiments I put in food: Many condiments I put on food have high levels of sodium and a lot of calories. After learning that soy sauce, ketchup and a lot of salad dressings suffer from this, I´ll put a lot less of them in my food or even avoid them completely.

Change ingredients to their “healthier” version: There are many products that I can change in my pantry to their low calorie version and I wouldn't even notice. From the top of my head, I think I could change products such as my milk, from regular to low fat milk, my regular “Tajin” to “Tajin” reduced in sodium, my regular coke to coke zero, among many others. I could keep that list running, because they are such simple things that I eat on a regular basis and which their “healthier” counterparts taste basically the same. That means that if I change most of them in my pantry I will be contributing to a healthier diet little by little.

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Recently it has been talked about the importance of mental health all around social media and in society in general. The reality is that not many people really know the true implications of having bad mental health. Me personally, after doing this activity I learned that it is possible to have really good mental health if you just do simple activities. Also, I learned that sometimes problems can get out of our hands, and thus, it is perfectly fine to ask others for help, you don't have to solve everything by yourself. Lastly, I learned that having good mental health is important because you can avoid illness such as depression and anxiety, both terrible illnesses that really hurt your mind, and thus, your life in general.

After learning all of this, I´ve designed a plan that will help me achieve good mental health. The plan is the following:

Sleep hygiene: I will try to sleep everyday at 11:00 pm and wake up at 7:00 am, that way I can sleep my full 8 hours, while keeping a pattern that I can use every single day of the week, maximizing the quality of such sleep.

Talking with a professional: Even though I already go with my psychologist, I only do that once a month, and even though she tells me it would be a good idea to at least have 2 sessions a month, I´ve tried to push it to only one, just because of time management reasons. Today I learned that I have to prioritize mental health over everything, and thus, that I will start attending 2 sessions with my psychologist starting next month.

Weekly planner: I started doing a weekly planner about 2 weeks ago on a really cool app called “Notion”. Even though I started it a few weeks ago, I really wanted to put it here because I want to continue doing it, since it has helped me so much to organize my times and to basically have time for everything, including school work, my job tasks, spending time with my family, friends and my girlfriend, among others. Also it has helped me to be more relaxed and a lot less stressed since I have such better management about my time and activities.

Eating healthy: I will still follow my Complete and Balanced Nutrition Plan because that states the amount of calories, fats, sugars, and protein I need in a day. As we´ve seen throughout this document, a good diet plays a key role in mental health.

Exercise: I will continue doing the activities I planned on my Physical Activity plan, and thus I would be killing two birds with one stone.

Stop drinking alcohol the way I used to: I have to confess that sometimes when I have had a bad week, I go out to party on the weekend and naturally drink a lot of alcohol because “I have an excuse”. This is of course terrible, because as we learned here, alcohol only provides a short term solution for the problem. Because of this, I would like to change this habit to relaxing at my house, watching a movie and eating something I love.

Make a calming routine daily: The Apple Watch provides an app that helps you navigate through some calming breathing exercises in order to look out for your mental health. I don´t do them that often, maybe twice a week, but I absolutely love the feeling that I get afterwards. That's why I would like to start doing this exercise daily.

Go out and have fun: Life is not only about school or work, it is also about going out and having fun with family and friends. Knowing this, I would like to start compromising myself to go out at least twice a week with my family or friends. It can be as simple as going out to the movies, going bowling, or simply going out to have dinner. As simple as it may sound, these actions help you think about something else, other than the things that stress you, boosting your overall mental health, while making connections with people.

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Up until recently, I was the kind of person who would sacrifice hours of sleep just to get things done. I kept doing that until one day I noticed that I was way more productive when I slept and the next day I would get things done faster and with better quality. Since then, I started to sleep more and better, but I know for a fact that my sleep hygiene definitely still needs improvement. After learning about the importance of a good quality sleep, I´ve designed a plan that will help me achieve better sleep hygiene:

Continue with my weekly planner: In my mental health plan, I talked about a weekly planner that I have using the app “Notion”. This helps me get my whole life organized to basically have time for everything, school work, my regular job, time with my family, time with my girlfriend, as well as free time. I will continue doing this because since I have a lot more time management, I can almost guarantee that I can have better sleeping habits, such as sleeping 8 hours a day, as well as having a great sleeping schedule, with the same hours every single day.

Follow this pre-sleep routine: Since I have to wake up at 6:00 am, that means that I have to go to sleep at 10:00 pm if I want to achieve 8 hours of sleep. If have to be in bed by 10:00 pm, I will stop watching my phone at 9:00 pm, leaving it outside of my room in “Do not disturb” mode, and I will start either reading a book or solving rubik's cubes (a hobby of mine). Right now I'm reading “How To Build A Car By Adrian Newey” so I will continue doing it because it gets me relaxed (getting me in the mood to go to sleep) and it also helps me because I learn about things that can help me in my professional career. At 9:40 pm I will go and brush my teeth, put on my mouth guard and return to bed, where I´ll do my night prayers and then go to sleep. That means that I have to have dinner at around 8:00 pm, where I´ll follow my nutrition plan since it includes light dinner options that are recommended for achieving good sleep quality. I will follow this pre-sleep routine with the idea of hopefully improving the quality of my sleep.

Work on a gradual improvement of my room's conditions: I really liked the idea of having a good space in order to have a good quality sleep. I think overall my room is pretty adequate. I have a nice mattress, a nice pillow but I would like to implement the other things I learned. I would like to put another curtain in a specific corner, where light gets into my room very early in the morning and sometimes wakes me up. This, of course, costs money, but instead of going out to dinner or buying new shoes, I could spend the money on that curtain, and thus spend money on me and my health, a thing that is more important than buying new shoes. I would also like to buy a lavender automatic air freshener, where I can put lavender oil and that will disperse the smell. I really like the smell of lavender and I think it can help me relax and hopefully achieve a better sleep. Getting all of this done might take time, but I see it as an investment, and even though it could be 1 or 2 months until I get this done, I think it will be well worth the wait.

Getting sunlight in the morning: I really liked the idea of getting sunlight in the morning to tell our bodies that we are awake. My room has a really nice balcony where I have a sundeck and the sun hits very nice in the mornings. I would like to add 5 minutes to my daily routine so that I can go out and take the sun for 5 minutes. I can use this time to thank god for everything he has given me, reflect on my life, and just see it as a personal and a “me” moment where I can look into myself, things that sometimes may be hard due to us having “limited” time to do such things.

Reduce coffee little by little: I´m one of those people that loves to drink coffee whenever I´m feeling tired, it doesn't matter the time of day. I learned today that doing this is terrible both for my health and for my sleep hygiene. I think I may feel this way because I don't have the best sleeping habits. If I slept for longer and with a better quality, I may not feel this way later in the day. Knowing this, I will start reducing 100 ml of coffee a week from my daily coffee until I'm able to quit it. I don't want to rely and depend on coffee so that I can get through my activities, and that is also another reason why I want to reduce it.

Stop doing what I'm doing: I have to confess something, I'm a huge fan of hard seltzers. During the weekends I like to drink a hard seltzer while I'm watching a movie or a series. I learned that drinking alcohol can affect my sleep quality and since I'm already trying to quit alcohol altogether, I don't see why not to stop doing this on weekends and overall improve my life and my sleep quality.

These are the main things I´m gonna start doing (or stop doing them) on a regular basis in order to improve my sleep hygiene and my overall health.

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As I said before, I wouldn't say I have bad habits regarding alcohol consumption or accident prevention, but the truth is that there is always room for improvement and right now, I´m having the opportunity to look into habits that can help me enhance both of these pillars. Knowing this, I've designed a plan with actions that will help me achieve this. The plan is the following:

Substance abuse prevention.

Continue the appointments with my psychologist: Since doing my mental health plan, I bumped up my visits to my psychologist from once a month, to twice a month. This has helped me a lot because I can let all of my problems out in a shorter time, making me feel better and relieved. This feeling is great because I can feel good about myself, without consuming substances such as alcohol or drugs.

Follow my well-being plan: As I´ve read before, there is no reason to consume alcohol or drugs if you are perfect in every aspect of life. The mission of doing a well-being plan is to be as close to perfect as possible in every single pillar of life, so if you are at peace with each of them, then there is no need to resort to drugs or alcohol. That's why, I will continue to follow my well-being plan (at least the pillars we´ve made so far) in order to seek the best version of myself and my life possible.

Re-evaluate my group of friends: While I have really good groups of friends overall, I can highlight one specific group where, when I go out with them, I usually drink significantly more than when I go out with other groups. I think the reason being is that, in that specific group of people, alcohol is really looked at as a way to escape reality because they have a lot of problems, and that drinking habit transmits to me because I spend time with them. Having analyzed that, I think it is better to hang out with that group of friends outside of an atmosphere where alcohol is involved to avoid problems, such as having some dinner or drinking a coffee at a cafeteria.

Learn about my ancestors' habits: To be completely honest with you, I don't know anything about the habits of my ancestors, specifically when you talk about alcohol or drug consumption. I think it would be very important for me to learn about the habits of my ancestors so that I can see if there is anything else I should maybe keep an extra eye out for in order to look after my own personal safety.

Change my mentality: I´m that type of person that says that in order to have fun at a party, you must drink. The reality is that you can have as much fun if not more in a party scenario if you don´t drink. To have fun, you must have attitude, and that doesn't depend on alcohol. I want to work on changing this mentality by putting it to the test with great attitude, where I´m sure, I´ll be surprised that in fact, I don't need alcohol to have a good time.

Accident prevention plan.

Stop taking my car out at night: Going to a party or a club with your car is dangerous and demands a lot of responsibility because you are very tempted to consume alcohol, after which, you must drive back home. From now on, I´ll stop taking my car to the club or to parties to not even be tempted to drive when I've consumed alcohol. Even better is that I've recently acquired the membership for Uber One, where I get discounts and cashback for every trip I make. By using Uber, I'll guarantee that I'll arrive home safely, quickly and by not putting either myself or the people around me in danger.

Stop looking at my cell phone while driving: I have to be honest, I'm that kind of person that looks at its cellphone on stoplights. I know it's a bad habit that puts me and everyone around me at risk. That's why, I´ll stop looking at my phone while at stoplights, because I´ve learned that my safety and arriving at my destination is more important than answering instagram or whatsapp messages since realistically speaking, those can wait.

Focus and watch out when I´m walking: When I´m walking towards a place, I´m usually doing something else, it could be looking at my phone, solving a Rubik's cube or just thinking about something else, basically I could be doing anything in the world, except at looking at where I´m going, which is the thing I'm supposed to be doing. In order to avoid accidents such as trips or falls, I'll work on that. From now on, I´ll pay attention to the direction I'm walking in order to identify potential risks or dangers I may encounter while walking.

Suspend the use of headphones while riding my bike: While I love to hear music while I ride my bike on the streets, I have to recognize that it could potentially be really dangerous since I can't hear other people around me or cars coming at me. That's why, this may possess a potential danger that could lead to a very serious accident and thus, the reason why I´ll suspend the use of headphones during this activity.

Add certain modifications to my home taking advantage of the modifications already being made for my sleep plan: Recalling my sleep hygiene plan, I talked about some modifications I´ll make to my home in order to make it better to sleep in. I think that is a great opportunity to also add certain features that will help me prevent accidents, such as adding smoke detectors in various rooms, a fire extinguisher as well as paying someone to check the electrical system as well as the piping system (both for gas and water) in my home.

These are the main things I´ll start doing in order to enhance both of these pillars.

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We´ve been told all of our lives that as human beings we need to do physical activities because it is good for us, but in reality, we´ve never really investigated on real legitimate data on why it is good to do physical activity as well as how much of it we need to do in a week. This activity helped me do just that. I learned that doing physical activity regularly can help us prevent getting diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cancer, among others. Physical activity can also help us achieve a better mental health state overall, at the same time we achieve a better physical state, where we have appropriate muscle and fat percentages according to our body type and size. I also learned that it is not only important to do aerobic physical activity, but that it is also important to do muscle-strengthening in every muscle group. Coming from someone that only does aerobic activity, that really opened my eyes and definitely made me rethink my physical activities so that I can modify them a little bit in order to start working on muscle-strengthening. This comes in hand with one other thing I learned while doing this activity, and it is that you have to start slow and then work your way up. For example, I might want to start my muscle-strengthening program with a lot of repetitions and with a lot of weight, doing more harm than good because that could expose me to a very serious injury. While this might sound like common sense, it is a very valuable lesson that we need to keep in mind.

Right now, I have my physical activities planned out throughout the week, but like everything in life, there is always room for improvement. I think that I can do certain actions to improve my physical activity, such as:

I would like to start going to my campus gym twice a week in order to work on my muscle-strengthening. I might not know a lot about it, but I know that at the gym you can find certain coaches that can help you with your plan and achieve what you want to achieve (which in my case is to work on my muscle-strengthening).

Add another day of tennis practice on my schedule. I love playing tennis, and in the summer, I´ll work as a tennis instructor for the second year running. That's why I would love to be in tip-top shape, while I work on my physical activity, killing 2 birds with one stone.

Go out for a walk with my dog at least 20 minutes a day. Between work and school I haven't given my dog a lot of attention lately, that's why I would love to commit to start taking my dog out for a walk every day, for at least 20 minutes. That will make my dog very happy while I improve my physical activity status, as well my mental health, because I can clear my mind and my thoughts while I walk through the park.

I´ve always liked going to indoor cycling studios, it´s like a guilty pleasure for me. Although I´ve only been to a few classes with family and friends, I´ve always enjoyed them. That's why I would also like to attend to at least one indoor cycling class a week. I consider it to be a very fun way to burn many calories in a relatively short period of time.

I think I could do a better job at organizing my schedule because almost every week I end up sacrificing at least one of my physical activities in order to finish my school or work duties. I think there is plenty of time in a day in order to do everything, it is just a matter of procrastinating less, taking shorter breaks and optimizing every single second of my day.

A few months ago I started having lower back problems because between work and school, I spent a lot of time sitting down, which together with the fact that I suffer from scoliosis, just made things worse. My doctor recommended me a video from the Bloomington Wellness Center, in which they do a simple 4 minute routine to stretch our back and thus reduce those pains after a long day of sitting down. To be honest I stopped doing the routine just because I was lazy. Now I want to commit myself to do it after every single day in which I spend more than 2 hours straight sitting down (which is almost every single day if not every one of them).

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Throughout my research, I´ve learned that vaccination is not only important for me, but also for everyone around me. Basically, vaccination is like a commitment you have with society, you must get vaccinated if you want to take care of everyone around you, because if you don´t you are supporting the spread of diseases that could potentially end a lot of lives. That's the reason why I'm creating a plan in which I'm doing my due diligence in an effort to look after my own personal health and wellbeing, as well as for the ones of the people around me. My plan is the following:

Keep my vaccination schedule at hand: Keeping my vaccination schedule at hand will make me check it more often (I would like to check it at least once a month), where I´ll see if I need a reinforcement of any of the shots I´ve been previously administered.

Go to regular doctor appointments: There was a time in my life that I had regular check-ups with the doctor every six months. Now, between school and work, I haven´t had those check-ups recently, but I think it is important to resume this practice because the doctor could help me identify if I need a vaccine or even answer some of my questions regarding vaccination or other health topics.

Check official portals regarding developments in vaccination: I would like to search at least once a month for news regarding new vaccines, as well as the recommended age group for it. That way I can be informed about new vaccines that I may or may not have to get applied. I'm planning on checking the portals of the World Health Organization as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention portal, since they are both very trusted sources.

Talk to people that can make a change: As I said earlier, I consider vaccination to be a commitment with society. That is the reason why I consider making a change in this aspect by talking to people that I know can make a change. For example, if I were to talk about the importance of vaccines with a woman that has just given birth, most likely they would complete their newborns vaccination plan as soon as possible. I think we should spread the word about the importance of it and thus help eradicate the problem of people not getting vaccinated. With everything I´ve learned here, I will start talking about the importance of vaccination with every person I can identify that can have a positive effect on solving this problem.

Those are a few actions that can help me improve this specific pillar of wellbeing in my life. I hope these actions can also help my society as a whole in the long run.

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After learning all of the research done up until this point, I can highlight the importance that the environment has both in my health (physical and mental) and my overall personal well-being. Knowing this, I want to start doing certain actions in my daily life that can help me enhance this pillar while also contributing my grain of sand in order to solve the major problem that my city faces. The actions I want to start doing are the following:

Start bike riding to my college: I only live 3 km away from my university campus, and with a proper bike lane that takes me all the way to college, I think I could start commuting to my college by bike on the days where I don´t bring a lot of stuff (the days where I don´t bring my tennis bag or my lab equipment).

Start using carpool more often: More often than not, a lot of my friends who live in the exact same neighborhood all take their separate cars when we go to the same place. I think we can start taking turns on who drives each time, and start carpooling to the plans we do together. That way, we´ll reduce the amount of traffic and air pollution caused by us.

Think twice before I buy something: I would describe myself as a compulsive buyer sometimes. I think sometimes I buy things that I don't actually need. This is not only bad for my wallet, but it is also very bad for the environment since I´m generating way more waste than what I'm supposed to. From now on I will think twice before buying things, thinking about the possible consequences that buying that said item could have on the environment.

A few years back, I was part of a group that planted trees in a forest known as “Colomos III” every saturday. I really liked doing that because I learned a lot about my city and the way the soil and water affects my city's infrastructure, but also because I felt I was doing something positive for the environment. Sadly, right now I don't have as much time as I used to have to go every single saturday but I would like to commit to go to at least 1 saturday a month to volunteer myself and plant a tree.

Be responsible with what is given to me: I´m fortunate enough to live in a zone where I have a park with trails and public exercise machines right in front of my house. With this, I think I have two very important responsibilities. The first one is to use what is given to me, if I have the opportunity to do it, then why not take it. I want to commit myself to use the facilities my condominium gives me at least 4 hours a week. The second responsibility I have is that I have to take care of said facilities, I have to pick up my own trash, I have to take care of the machines and most importantly, I have to make good use of them.

Get in touch with people that can do something: I know for a fact that there is a student group at my campus that looks after our environment starting from our own university campus. I think what they are doing is really interesting and really important because it could have a huge impact on the future not only of our campus, but of our whole city. That is the reason why I would like to contact the people that are in charge of said group to see if there is any way that I could get involved and thus, help solve the general problem, while learning something new.