We met the amazing Stacey Lee Turner - mum to be, health consultant, workplace wellness provider, nutrition coach, meal planner and all round advocate for living our best lives - a few years back now.
We’ve always been impressed with Stacey’s commitment to reach, educate and inspire a great number of people on how to maximise performance and build your best body ever!
Stacey does this with her business partner, Matty, through The Chief Life by offering individualised nutrition plans, nutrition coaching and ongoing support as you go through your wellness journey.
We’ve been very lucky to spend some time with Stacey as she shares some inspirational tips and ideas to get us living our best lives yet!
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(VIVO): Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us Stacey. Can you tell us a bit more about The Chief Life - what services do you offer - and what made you and Matty start the business?
Stacey: Thank you so much for connecting with me! The Chief Life was born out of a desire to reach more people and help to guide them on their health and wellness journey. We were working with people one on one in the gyms we were working at and locally within our community but we wanted to help more people so we created this online platform and starting producing resources to share with people ready to step up and take action.
We started as a nutrition company but have since broadened our scope to include all areas of wellness because your health is not just what you put into your body, it’s also movement, sleep, water intake, sun exposure to get vitamin D and time in nature, mindset and stress management as well as breathing and meditation.
We have been blessed to be able to assist thousands of people with our meal plans and nutrition coaching online so far as well as connecting with people “in real life” through our gym and corporate 6 and 8-week programs.
One of our main passions these days is running our Wellness Retreat in the Byron Hinterlands. This is an amazing opportunity for people to come and spend a long weekend with us, enjoying the space and freedom to learn to incorporate our 7 pillars code of health into their everyday lives! It’s always an extremely uplifting and life changing experience for all who attend.
(VIVO): For those who are just starting out on their wellness journey and not sure what to focus on first, how and where do you suggest the start? 
Stacey: Great question! If someone is “ready”, that is a great first step, as it already shows their mindset is going to help them rather than hinder them. The next step is going to be unique to the person, but a couple of suggestions are reaching out to us at The Chief Life, or someone similar, to help provide you with support, education, accountability and guidance around all things health… From nutrition to movement, to mindset, to hydration, there are so many places we can start with someone depending on what their current challenges are and where they would like to get to in terms of their goals.
One of my favourite things to do with a new client is to see what their current fears or challenges are and then to talk through them together to see if we can come up with some solutions or an action plan to overcome some of these and reframe them.
For most people, starting to pay more attention to what they are putting into their body and how it makes them feel can help to connect the dots of what we eat affects our mood, energy and everyday well-being. Then making small step-by-step changes to balance their meals and snacks throughout the day using The Chief Life principles and philosophy will help them to improve these areas so they can work towards being their best selves and getting more joy out of life and more happiness every day!
(VIVO): So, we are all busy and getting busier so of course it gets harder to focus on our health. What are some of your easy, everyday tips to make sure we do live a “chief life?” or the best life we can?
Stacey: Mindset is massive… We are always thinking, right? So if we can direct our thoughts to more useful, positive, proactive things like “what should I eat at my next meal to give me more energy?” versus “where’s the nearest KFC?” or “I need chocolate”, this will start to set us up for success from meal to meal. Despite being so busy, prioritising time in your week to sit down and plan out some of your meals and snacks and then prepare them ahead of time, can make life so much easier when things do get busy! And if people are too busy for that, we suggest finding meal prep companies that provide health, nourishing meals rather than processed rubbish.
My favourite go-to breaky every single morning is my Coco Bliss Vivo protein powder with coconut yoghurt and gluten free muesli… I have this every day! It has all 3 macronutrients to help me stay fuller for longer, keep my blood sugar levels stable and provide a plethora of nutrients at one meal whilst effectively fuelling me and my growing baby - and the best part is that it is quick to make and tastes delicious!!!
Another easy and quick tip that can help set people up for success is starting the day with gratitude rather than watching or listening to the news. Starting the day in such a positive way allows the rest of the day to unfold in a much more positive way and also helps you to stay focused on what really matters. Our brains are designed to respond to negativity with more negativity and the opposite is also true! Positives beget positives! So starting your day in a positive way will help you to make better choices at every step of your day. Try it out and see how you go! You can either write down 3 things you’re thankful for when you wake or even just think of them as you’re getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom :)
My final suggestion is to get out in the sunshine before midday, even if just for a few minutes, and take a few big deep breaths in and out through your nose only. This is an AMAZING way to help regulate your circadian rhythm as well as help to get you in your “healing” rest and repair state, rather than “emergency” fight or flight stress mode. We are meant to spend 95-97% of our day in our healing room, yet today’s lifestyle is pushing us to spend much more time in our emergency room, leading us to be constantly stressed and making us sick! By taking just a couple of minutes in the morning to breathe deep and get in the sun, we can energise ourselves naturally (without caffeine and artificial stimulants) and help to heal and nourish our bodies rather than hurt and harm them!