Winter can be a tough time for athletes. It's hard to get motivated when it's cold, and storms can make trails and roads slick or impassable. Plus, downhill skiing and snowboarding can be expensive and inconvenient at times.

It's no excuse to stay indoors all season long, though. If you're willing to get creative, snow and ice can actually make your workouts more fun. From the tame to the exotic, these alternative winter sports will keep you outside and in shape until all the snow finally melts away.

For those experiencing the weather shift and all that comes along with the change of seasons, stay motivated to exercise and maintain your once outdoor routine, slowly starts to crumble with each drop of snow and gust of wind that passes by. Exercise can actually help clear your winter blues and chances are, you'll be in tip top shape once the weather warms up. Be creative and don't stop just because the snow has fallen. Chances are, you'll wake up to a fitter and healthier you come spring. Here are some tips to stay motivated and keep the body you love during the cold winter months.

The stumbling block in making fitness a lifelong habit, rather than a fad, is finding enjoyable activities you can do all year 'round. That's why you need to add seasoning to your training.

Thyroid disease has entered the public’s consciousness thanks to an article in the Wall Street Journal.
I debated on whether to write a blog about it or let it be. In the end, I decided it was necessary because of the misinformation out there on the topic. The most important thing when discussing complex issues like this, is being informed, objective, and logical. For that reason, I’m going to try and outline everything that hypothyroid entails, from diagnosis to abuse to controversies in the medical field.

Podcast hosted by Tawnee Prazak

Since going pro after a career in finance, Sarah Piampiano‘s accumulated multiple 70.3-distance wins, an Ironman win and many other podium performances, as well as a 7th place finish at the 2015 Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. This year she’ll return to Kona. Last year she launched The Habit Project, an online community geared toward helping supporting positive habit changes. Along the way, Sarah has also struggled with Hashimoto’s disease, a thyroid disorder, and was diagnosed as a young girl. On this show we will learn how Sarah has overcome Hashimoto’s and still competes at the top level of long-course triathlon.

Often times mainstream doctors don’t test for thyroid antibodies because it won’t change how they treat you with Hashimoto’s. The only solution they have is thyroid hormone replacement medication, but Hashimoto’s is more than a thyroid condition. It is an autoimmune disease.

Thyroid disease is an epidemic affecting up to 20 percent of American women. The most common cause of low thyroid today is an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Like all autoimmune disease, the main feature is the production of antibodies that attack the healthy tissue of the body. In this case, thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) and or thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) are created against the thyroid.

Losing sleep tends to make people eat more and gain weight, and now a new study suggests that one reason may be the impact sleep deprivation has on the brain.

Did you know that the average person spends approximately one third of their life in bed? Yet when it comes to where we sleep, we often do not consider how our mattress can affect our backs. No other piece of furniture in your house is used as often or affects your overall health more than your bed.

From birth, we spend a third of our lives asleep. After decades of research, we’re still not sure why.