Author: andrea Hood

Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the World. In fact, it is said that over 50% of the American population drinks at least a cup of coffee daily, which means over half of you reading this enjoy your morning cup o’ Joe. While it’s all well and good to drink a cup of coffee daily, it’s important to make sure you are drinking quality organic coffee as opposed to conventionally grown coffee. Here at SurfBerry we only serve organic coffee, so we wanted to take some time to explain the importance of Organic vs. Conventional Coffee.

Organic vs. Conventional Coffee: Health Benefits

The biggest difference between organic and conventional coffee beans is that organic coffee beans don’t use any toxic pesticides during the growing process. Pesticides kill so many of the health benefits that coffee can provide, such a high levels of antioxidants. The antioxidants found in coffee may be able to help fight off cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, so it’s important to have those antioxidants in tack. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “30 percent of insecticides, 60 percent of herbicides and 90 percent of fungicides are carcinogenic, or cancer-causing. Pesticides and other conventional farming chemicals accumulate in body fat, and can cause damage to the nervous and reproductive systems. These chemicals can also disrupt hormone and immune-system function.” (Source)

Coffee can offer an array of other health benefits, too. It is known to increase alertness, speed up your metabolism, and enhance your memory. Just make sure that you purchase good quality, organic coffee so that the benefits aren’t outweighed by toxic pesticides.

Organic vs. Conventional Coffee: Environmental Benefits

Because coffee beans are readily grown in many parts of the world, it’s important to keep the environment healthy and bountiful for future generations – organic farming practices do just that. By not using toxic pesticides, combined with a variety of organic farming practices such a building up the soil with nutrients and crop-rotation, organic coffee beans are grown in a much more sustainable way.

Many of the areas where coffee is grown are lush, tropical environments like Latin and South America, and Southeast Asia. Organic farming practices, and the farmers who abide by them, take the overall environment into consideration, which conventional coffee farms tend to de-forest these tropical areas. Deforestation takes all of the nutrients out of the soil, increases the use of pesticides, and makes convention coffee far more damaging to the environment. (Source)

Not a coffee drinker? No problem! Here at SurfBerry we don’t just serve organic coffee, but we serve plenty of non-coffee alternatives that will give you a boost of energy morning, noon, or night. Some of our favorites are our organic juices, superfood smoothies, and acai bowls.

This past August I had the pleasure of attending the Women’s Surf and Yoga Retreat with WB Surf Camps in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. It was 7 days filled with adventure, fun, delicious food, relaxation, and lots of laughs. Prior to the retreat I had never surfed before. Since I love to try new things, I decided to give it a shot and I was surprised at how quickly I was able to stand up on my surf board! Today I wanted to share with you all the fun we had at the Women’s Surf and Yoga Retreat.

Women’s Surf and Yoga Retreat: Daily Fun

Each day started off with a healthy breakfast – either at the hotel, or with a SurfBerry Acai Bowl (which everyone loved!). It was super important to get in a healthy meal in the morning, with lots of protein, to fuel our bodies for the activities for the upcoming day.

After breakfast, we would head to the beach to surf. Our group had a combination of beginning level surfers – some women had surfed a few times before, and some of us (myself included) had never surfed before. No matter our experience level, by the end of the second morning, we were all standing up on our surf boards and catching waves!

It was such an incredible experience to catch my first wave. As I stood up I was thinking, “Oh my goodness! I’m actually doing this! I’m actually surfing!” and then I immediately fell! It’s always so fun, and such a great learning experience, when you try something new. And I know I couldn’t have done it without the help and guidance of the WB Surf Camp instructors – Deaton, Thompson, and Megan. They taught us step-by-step how to surf the right way, while supporting us through the process (with lots of laughs – because that always helps when you’re trying something new!).

We enjoyed lunch after our mornings of surfing, and typically spent a good portion of each afternoon doing a lovely yoga session. Do you know how amazing it feels to stretch your body out after surfing all morning?! Incredibly amazing!! Our yoga instructor, Cari Moskow, did a wonderful job guiding us in lots of chest, shoulder, and hip openers, to help ease the soreness of our muscles.

Other fun activities included a trip to Masonboro Island where we enjoyed walks along the beautiful private beach, Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) excursions, and a trip to the Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.  We also had plenty of down time to enjoy the beach, go for a dip in the ocean, or explore the Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington area. It was the perfect balance of rest and relaxation, combined with fun activities!

At night we visited some of the Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington areas best restaurants, like K38, Oceanic, and Osteria-Cicchetti. It was a delicious end to a beautiful day!

Women’s Surf and Yoga Retreat: Come join us!

If you’d like to experience a surf and yoga retreat yourself, we’d love for you to join us on our upcoming trip to Costa Rica in January. Click here to learn all the details and register today!