Little Compton native Nancy Clark, a sports nutritionist and president of the Little Compton Garden Club, recently took the trip of a lifetime, traveling to Stockholm, Sweden to speak at the Nobel Week Dialogue as part of a discussion about the future of health across the globe. Here's what she had to say about her trip, and her love for Little Compton.

How long have you lived in Little Compton?

"I am native. I grew up here and then went off to high school and college and worked up in the Boston area and now I sort of go back and forth between Newton and here okay."

What do you love most about living here?

"Oh, wow, the beauty of it all. It's a wonderful community. I mean, the garden club is a wonderful community and there's Sakonnet Cyclist, that's another wonderful community. There's the paddle players and the tennis players. I'm lucky to be a part of a lot of nice communities around town, but I love the people and the friendliness."

Other passions?

"I bike and garden and walk my dog. My dog was on the front page of the Sakonnet Times. He was the dog that fell through the ice on Christmas Day."

How's he doing?

"He's fine, thank goodness. I mean that was pretty amazing. The firemen did a great job. He was in the water for at least 35 to 40 minutes, and shivering like crazy when he got out, but once he warmed up, he was fine."

How did you come to speak in Stockholm?

"I got this jaw-dropping email from the Nobel Dialogue Committee. The Nobel Awards are given out on December 10, and on December 9 they have what's called Nobel discussions or Nobel dialogue and they have a topic. In the past, it's been the future of immigration or the future of decision-making. This year, the topic is the future of health, and they divided health into many different aspects, such as the effects of climate on health or, antibiotic resistance on health, and nutrition was one of the topics.

"I got this jaw-dropping email from the planning committee for the Nobel Dialogue asking if, by any magical chance, I'd be available on Dec. 9 to speak in Stockholm. So it just came out of the blue.I, for certain, said yes, and I was one of 16 discussants.

"It wasn't giving a talk, it was more discussing. There were two things I participated in, and one was talking with the head of the United Nations World Food Relief program, which deals with people dealing with famines and starvation droughts and people who have no choice with their food, versus an athlete who has all sorts of choices, like, 'Am I going to carbo-load tonight for tomorrow's event?' and, 'Am I getting the right amount of carbs, proteins and fats, what about these supplements?' ”

"That was contrasting between those who have and those who don't have food, and the contrast between the meaning of food for an athlete versus the meaning of food for someone who's dealing with famine. That got people thinking about the contrast and the meaning of food.

"In the second discussion group, I was with a couple of Swedish Olympians — one was a paralympian who was a cyclist, and the other was a cross-country skier. And a laureate from a previous year was also included, and he was a recreational basketball player. So there was myself, the two Olympians, the laureate and there’s a moderator for each of these sessions. We just talked about success and how food plays into success, and the importance of fueling for success."

How long did it take to prepare for this after you got the call?

"I had to think about three key points that I wanted to present, but it wasn't like I was giving a talk on nutrition. That's really easy to do, but when it's an open-ended discussion, you never quite know where it's going to go. I was thinking about it a lot, but I wasn't really preparing. What I did prepare for was the actual awards ceremony where the Nobel laureates get their awards presented to them by the King of Sweden, and then to the royal banquets and then to the ball, so it was like this fairy tale day of this very rare opportunity to participate in the Nobel Awards."

Did you have any time for sight-seeing?

"We went to the Nobel Museum and did a little bit of sightseeing around Stockholm. We were there for about five days ... You get there and you have a day to recover from jetlag and then you have a day with the discussions and a day with a Nobel ceremony, then there was a day for sightseeing. But it gets dark there early. By three in the afternoon, it was midnight. It was a winter experience. I think Stockholm in the summer is a better time to visit, but it was fun to be at the hotel, staying at the headquarters. There's the Grand Hotel, and there's all sorts of buzz and excitement because the laureates were staying there."

What are your thoughts on the nation's current physical health? Did you discuss that when you were over in Sweden?

"We didn't discuss that, but it's a huge problem. I mean everybody was very concerned about the incoming political situation and the impact it will have on health. There was a lot of concern about the health of not just Americans but of the whole world."

Looking back, what strikes you most about your trip?

"It was certainly an honor of a lifetime. Years ago, I was at a sports medicine conference and talked with a graduate student who was interested in nutrition, and we went and walked and talked a lot about nutrition and stuff. Now years later, she's become a prominent researcher in diabetes, and she works in Sweden and Stockholm and was involved in the Nobel week committee. So when they were planning the Nobel discussions, somebody asked if she knows a sports nutritionist, and she says, 'Yeah, Nancy Clark.' It's just amazing that I haven't seen this person for 45 years, but yet she remembered me and she kept up with my work. I think the message is to get involved with your profession, do a good job, and people will recognize you in ways that you might not expect. I never would have expected to be invited to Nobel Week."