Hi Reader,

Happy new year! I hope you had a great holiday season enjoying time with your friends and family.

I wanted to share a little story with you about a magical experience I had in December.

So our little family (consisting of my partner, Paul, our dog, Merlin & our two lop-eared bunnies, Frankie & Jo) took a road trip(minus the buns) down to Los Angeles to visit my family and friends. We were there for 2 weeks and got some great weather and even better surf.

Lucky for us, there was a historic swell that resulted in some amazing waves (normally LA surf is pretty bad).

I was also just so grateful to be in the water nearly every day- being in the ocean is so therapeutic for me on so many levels.

I think it's a combination of incorporating play, bits of HIIT(high intensity interval training) with intense paddles and breaks, vagus nerve stimulation with cold water exposure(research), and being immersed in nature that makes it so therapeutic.

One day just as the swell was peaking, I had one of the most epic waves of my life at a world-famous(and very crowded) spot in Malibu.

It was perfect- but I was questioning whether I could even catch a wave with how many people were out.

A set came(indicating a "set" of waves that are bigger than waves that are regularly coming through) and I was in a great position to catch it but other people further out were paddling for it as well.

Then, all of a sudden, about 3 dolphins jumped out of the water when the wave came and starting "surfing" it, shocking/amazing all the people that were paddling for it, allowing me to paddle into the wave without competition.

It was a pretty magical moment- it felt like nature was showing me some love by giving me that wave. I was so grateful I *nearly* cried on the (very long) paddle back out to try to catch another :)

It reminded me of how amazing spending time in nature can be for our health- physically mentally/emotionally and spiritually (research). Which is one of the main reasons I chose Sea + Spruce Nutrition for our new clinic name when we rebranded last March.

I'm curious, what is your favorite way to spend time in nature, and do you regularly spend time there?

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In health,

Christina Stapke, RDN, CD

P.S. I'm gearing up to launch a 10-day mini detox program that is focused on connecting with your body, reducing any inflammatory triggers and boosting your body's natural ability to detoxify to start the new year well- I'll keep you posted when this is released!