Category Archives: Health

The Breakfast Experiment: DOUBLE Your Morning Energy in 2 Easy Steps.

December 17, 2014 Aldo Leave a comment

The holidays are just around the corner, and many of us are giddy at the chance to finally unwind, relax, and let go of the stresses of the previous year.

I say, why not learn an easy but life-changing productivity hack these next lazy days?

With all the free time and lack of responsibility, it’s also the best time to rethink the loose baggage of your daily routine – in order to discover enlightening ways on how to perform exponentially better this 2015. Chances are, simple things you take for granted are holding you back bigtime.

Enter my BREAKFAST EXPERIMENT: an open challenge that I promise will be an excellent learning experience.

What’s in it for you?

A chance to know your body better, discover a life hack that is in-grained in our physiology, never be distracted by ravenous hunger and energy crashes in the late morning, and live everyday with a sense of well-being and stable emotions.

So what do you have to do?

This little challenge of mine involves you doing two easy, eye-opening steps. Continue reading The Breakfast Experiment: DOUBLE Your Morning Energy in 2 Easy Steps. →

Brainpower, Fitness, Health

12 Ways to Increase Brain Power For Architecture School – PART 2

November 21, 2014 Aldo Leave a comment

Previous: 12 Ways to Increase Brain Power for Architecture School – PART 1

In the first part of “12 Ways to Increase Your Brain for Architecture School”, I gave my first six life-hacks for keeping your mind clear, powerful, and alert for those long lecture days and even longer work nights.

In case you need a bit of refreshing:

Ditch the sugar.
Get enough sleep at night.
Drink enough water.
Make sure you’re getting enough Omega-3s.
Make nuts your snack of choice.
Enjoy a cup of brewed coffee.

Today I want to continue the chain and add a few more brilliant, effective things you can do to help your brain stay revved in high gear.

Implement the complete twelve in a comprehensive and quantified program, and you my friend are setting your brain for some serious pampering throughout life. Continue reading 12 Ways to Increase Brain Power For Architecture School – PART 2 →

Attitude, Blog Info - Q&A, Happiness, Health

9 Meaningful Points on Becoming Happier, Today. (Q&A #2)

November 11, 2014 Aldo Leave a comment

A recurring question I’ve been getting is “What is your most valuable advice for someone beginning or already in Architecture School?”, or something along those lines. So I thought I’d address it in this 2nd parcel of Q&A.

Getting right down to it, my own personal take on this has nothing to do with software or taking a special class. I think that a raging focus on skills training can only take you so far.

Surprise surprise, my most valuable piece of advice for anyone that wants a meaningful time in architecture school is a principle, an attitude that can actually be applied to all aspects of life.

In a nutshell, you could say that it’s become a sort of life philosophy in working towards my life-plan.

It took me over 20 years to really commit to it, but once I did – I never found more fulfillment in all my endeavors.

Continue reading 9 Meaningful Points on Becoming Happier, Today. (Q&A #2) →

Brainpower, Fitness, Health

12 Ways to Increase Brain Power for Architecture School – PART 1

October 28, 2014 Aldo Leave a comment

Click here to jump to: 12 Ways to Increase Brain Power For Architecture School – PART 2

A healthy, clear, and efficiently working brain is one of the architecture student’s greatest assets. I’d like to give you a few life hacks to supercharge yours.

Around two years ago, I had a sort of nutritional epiphany that allowed me start living every day with a clear and efficient mind, and I’ve never looked back since. Today I’m going to share with you some of the life-hacks I really wish I knew back when I was younger. They’ve helped me live with constant energy and a clear mind, warding off crankiness and increasing feelings of well-being.

How I was able to browse through the peer-reviewed research and find the perfect brain-power plan for me is a different story all together – which merits a separate post or two. For now, I’d like to just give you the rough outline, principles and tidbits for the top 12 highly effective ways to make your brain feel like a million bucks every single day.

This is going to be a two-part series merely meant to be an introduction to future posts. Each of these 12 points will then have their own individual entries, discussing in more detail the scientific backing and ways you can effectively and safely implement their use in your lifestyle.

Without further ado, I invite you to expand your mind. Continue reading 12 Ways to Increase Brain Power for Architecture School – PART 1 →

Fitness, Health, Principles

The Biggest Secret to Success: Take Care of Your Health

October 27, 2014 Aldo Leave a comment

Today’s post is going to be the cornerstone of all succeeding entries on how to stay healthy in architecture school and beyond. Think of it as my guiding belief on how to achieve success – “Life is a marathon, not a sprint – so it’s extremely important to take care of your health”.

Are you setting yourself up for long-term failure by trying to achieve everything today?

I’ve been there, friends. For some time, I was a chronic workaholic myself – and then I smartened up.

For us young people who are still full of the vigor of life, we sometimes feel indestructible. This is especially true for many a gifted achiever who constantly seeks their next youthful success.

We take pride in our perceived resilience – so we brag about our week long all-nighters in getting a project done, inject ourselves into the roster of a number of councils and movements, and feel shaky and useless when our hands aren’t tied by new projects.

So what of exercise and sleep? Enter the commonly used maxim “Ain’t nobody got time for dat!”

There’s nothing wrong with being driven and wanting to pursue a meaningful youth, but once your health starts to suffer on a habitual basis, you’ve reached a point where you might be actually compromising your long-term well-being. Continue reading The Biggest Secret to Success: Take Care of Your Health →

Brainpower, Fitness, Health, Principles

The Special Performance Needs of the Architecture Student.

October 10, 2014 Aldo Leave a comment

The architecture student is a unique animal with a diverse skillset.

Throughout the course of your academic life, you’ll be expected to perform well in areas both physical and mental. You need to be both a cerebral powerhouse and physical warrior. With this in mind, if you aren’t conditioned for the specific heavy demands of design school, you’ll spend many a day slumped over in an incapacitated, unproductive stupor.

To start of the post series on health and fitness, some goal setting is needed. I’m writing this post to set a good framework so we can establish the challenges that the bodies of most architecture students will face – and from here we’ll know what to aim for when we start on the road of fitness and health.

So then, what are some of the key performance considerations of the Archi-torture student? Continue reading The Special Performance Needs of the Architecture Student. →

Fitness, Health, Principles

Living for Fitness, or Fitness for Living?

September 2, 2014 Aldo Leave a comment

This was me in Highschool. All 110 pounds of me.

In my younger years, I wanted to get jacked.

As in, the sleeve-ripping, Pec-popping, flying-lat, monstrous wheels kind of jacked. That’s not too surprising, seeing as I was a 5’10, 110 lbs weak little boy in the middle of highschool.

Eventually though, as I got older and my world view and personal philosophy developed, I decided why the lifestyle of a 200 lbs behemoth would be detrimental to what I had planned for myself.

I’ll tell you why.

After struggling with my own personal insecurities and ballooning up to a chunky 185 lbs Powerlifter, Life slowly gave me some valuable realizations. I’d eventually gravitate down to a lean, comfortable 170 lbs with a great strength-to-bodyweight ratio, and a newfound fortitude.