The Easy Plus One Method: A Nutrition Coach's Simple Approach to Lasting Health EP#129

The Easy Plus One Method: A Nutrition Coach's Simple Approach to Lasting Health

Guest: Staci Lynch, Certified Functional Nutrition Coach

Episode Summary

Have you ever experienced "food fear"? That anxiety around social eating, not knowing what's safe for your body, or feeling like a high-maintenance guest everywhere you go?

In this powerful episode, Bona sits down with functional nutrition coach Staci Lynch, who shares her incredible journey from childhood food obsession and 250+ pounds in high school to helping others heal their relationship with food from the ground up.

What You'll Learn

Staci's Transformational Story:

• How food obsession started in elementary school and led to decades of restrict-binge cycles
• The moment everything changed when a doctor suggested dairy and wheat elimination for her sick baby
• Why traditional medical approaches left her feeling hopeless and alone

The Easy Plus One Method:

• Why foundations matter more than fancy testing
• How to build sustainable health habits without overwhelm
• The power of focusing on ONE thing until it becomes easy
• Why success breeds success in health transformation

Staci's 7 Pillars of Whole Health:

1. Mindset
2. Nutrition
3. Hydration
4. Sleep Optimization
5. Muscle and Movement
6. Stress Management and Recovery
7. Hormone and Gut Health

Key Quotes From Staci

"I don't think that people are innately lazy. I think it is just that they don't understand and have an easy strategy to be able to accomplish what they want to accomplish."

"Your success is inevitable. I believe that for every single person. And if you don't have enough belief in yourself, please borrow mine 'cause I have enough for both of us."

"Health does not have to be hard."

Connect with Staci Lynch

• Free Facebook Group: Building to Thrive
• Instagram: @buildingtothrive
• Website: http://www.building-to-thrive.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] Bona Normandeau: Welcome to The Happier You Podcast. I'm your host, Bona Normandeau. The Happier You is about encouraging each of us to connect with our unique self and figure out what our personal happiness looks like and build more of it into our daily lives. It's not what others think our happy should look like. It's about figuring out what really fills up our cup and brings us joy.

Each episode is about exposing you to new ideas, perspectives, and tools to help you build more happy moments in your day-to-day life. Join me and start living your best life today.

Hey, happy people. Welcome back. Today, I'm excited because I have. Stacey Lynch with me on the podcast. Stacey is a certified functional nutrition coach who helps her clients recover from food fear, achieve sustainable weight loss, and create root cause healing. She does this by helping our clients stop chasing surface solutions and rebuild from the inside out.

So I just wanna say welcome, Stacey. I'm super stoked to have you here on the podcast with me today. Thanks. I'm so happy to be here and I am so excited to 

[00:01:05] Staci Lynch: be able to do this with you. 

[00:01:07] Bona Normandeau: So I've heard Stacy talk about what she does and then just in a conversation the other day, I'm like, tell me more about what you do.

And I was fascinated by how Stacy works with her clients. And I've been on a an interesting health journey over the past couple of years. So I'm excited to have Stacy here because. As we were talking, one of the things that she said, and I saw it again on her website, is she mentioned the term food fear.

And that completely resonated with me. And I think if anybody's ever had food fear, they know exactly what I'm talking about. But before I get too far ahead of myself, Stacey, I just want you to share with our listeners, how did you end up here working with people on health? Yeah. How did this become your passion?

So 

[00:01:51] Staci Lynch: I'm gonna start back at the beginning because I don't remember a time that I was not food obsessed or body obsessed. Like even back into early elementary ages. I remember I was always the biggest kid and the biggest girl. Obviously I was taller than everyone else. I was bigger than everyone else, and I always was very cognizant of that.

There was good things about that. I came to the point where I was the protector of everyone. And I still I think, use that in my coaching too, to be able, 'cause I have a deep love for people and to protect them and help them. So I think that, even back then, that helps. But I remember being a campfire girl and we sold candy.

I don't know if up in Canada, if you guys have campfire or not, but in the United States it was like. Like girl scouts, like kind of that, but it's camper. And so we sold candy and I remember sitting in my room and taking boxes of candy out of the big boxes, thinking that, of course my mom isn't gonna know, but when it comes to the end and you have to pay for all the candy, she's like, where'd all the box scout?

I had eaten them all in my room really in binge sessions. So it started when I was way young. Fast forward to my senior high school, I was over 250 pounds. I had to stop playing sports because my body just would not allow me to do that. I had such. By that time I had been put on birth control to control my hormones.

And I know you can't just see the air quote that I just put, but please know that putting somebody on birth control does not control their hormones. That's a quick fix, a bandaid, and we can get into that topic another time. But, I had done that. I had done the endoscopies, the colonoscopies, the the doctors looking at me going, just looking at my mom going, I have no idea what's, I have no idea what to do with her.

I have no idea. So at that point in time, I couldn't play sports anymore in my body. Like it just felt like it was in a revolt. And so the day after I graduated high school, I had to have extensive mouth surgery and I couldn't eat. And lo and behold, for the first time that I could remember in my life, I lost weight.

I was like, okay, we're onto something. And this was back in the early nineties. So the fat, fat-free craze was in full force. And so I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna keep doing this. And so I drastically cut my calories and I put myself on a no fat diet. So I would have to in my mind I'm like, you cannot eat more than five grams of fat a day.

Just to give some context, anybody, I will. Strongly suggest that any woman never, ever eat less than 40 to 45 grams of fat a day for hormone health in general. So five grams of fat a day is like a destructive balm. And so fast forward again got, lost a hundred pounds, went away to college, got a boyfriend, got married, got comfortable, gained it all back because I had no idea how to keep it off.

Through this whole time, I was still having very debilitating gut issues and anxiety was starting to come, depression was coming. All of the things that go around with gut issues gained it all back plus some and got, we had a six year infertility journey. And that had a lot to do with kind of the systems in my body.

And so we we finally conceived after surgeries and endometriosis. Diagnosis and all the things. And with that pregnancy, I ended that pregnancy close to 300 pounds. And had him said, okay, this is it. Lost another a hundred pounds. Got or actually got pregnant again. And then after that, son lost another a hundred pounds.

'cause I was like, this is ridiculous. I'm not doing this. Gained it back again. That time I was about 75 pounds. Got pregnant again. Was in the worst health of my whole life. And then. I got really sick after my third son was born to the point where I was in the emergency room with anxiety attacks I couldn't eat.

And my son, my youngest son got sick and he pretty much had a cold coming out of the womb it felt like. And finally about, he was about three months old and we were in the, I had to take him to the ER 'cause he was blue 'cause he couldn't breathe. And, a doctor, we were there for four hours. I'm like, my baby is dying.

What is going on? Why isn't anybody paying attention? And a doctor poke poked his head in the room and he is I'm not a doctor here. I'm actually a doctor across the way at the woman's and baby clinic. He's I can hear your son. I think he's allergic to dairy and wheat. Go off of that 'cause I was breastfeeding and see if that helps.

I was like, okay. At that point I was desperate. So we went home, I did that and he was better within 24 hours. Like it was magic. Wow. I'm like, oh, I feel better too. Okay, let's keep going. And a long story, long I. That started my journey of healing and I started researching like a mad woman and nobody else was like me.

Yes, people were allergic to your dairy and wheat, but I had much more extensive issues than that. I found if you think about it, if you think can vision in your mind. A dark alley on the back road and there's a blinking light and it's just blinking. You're like, what's that?

What's that? But it looks scary, so nobody wants to go in. That's kinda when I how I describe the back then it was like some obscure, weird, like MySpace generation like blog, there was no name on the blog. And there was a lady I didn't know it was a lady at the time writing, and I'm like, that's me, that's my problem.

And she was talking about histamine issues and mast cell activation and stuff like that. And I'm like, that's me. But she wouldn't put her name on the blog because at that point in time nobody was talking about that stuff. And that gave me another direction to go. So at this time, I was able to eat two foods.

And I, again, dropped to the lowest weight I ever remember being in my whole life. But I was sick. I was very sick. Yes, I was skinny, but I was also sick. To the point where a gentleman came and said, he was an older gentleman that I had known pretty much my whole life. And he said, you need blood. And I was like, what?

And he was like, you need some blood or something like. Other people could see that it was not going well. So that was the final a hundred pound weight loss but was not in, I would say none of those times was a healthy way to do it. So I don't want anyone to have to do that again.

And then I had to build my health from the ground up, brick by brick. And so that was the the long version of where, why I'm here. 

[00:08:04] Bona Normandeau: Where in that did you switch to the functional nutrition and the like, so you started getting yourself healthier, but where in there did it be like, okay, I, I'm like formally educate myself and do this for other people?

[00:08:18] Staci Lynch: So I think about through really decades of research and helping other people around me I decided about. It's been about four years ago now. I found just I found Macro County and Macro County is a tool I use that is not definitely the base of my program or how I walk people through to health.

But it is a tool that I use. And for the first time in my life I was like, oh, this is how normal people eat. 'cause I still had no idea it was either restrict. Or binge, it was never in the middle. And so macro counting gave me that tool to be like, okay, now I understand. I understand what nutrition means.

And from there I went and I got a certification and I started coaching. But I knew that wasn't the. That wasn't the end. There was more to learn. And so I went through another program called FNMS, which is Functional Nutrition and Metabolism specialization. And that was the program that really opened my eyes to be able to help in a really pointed way, help people that are being turned away from their doctors going, I have no idea.

Like I, I've helped you and I don't know. And so that was the catalyst into the more deeper coaching that I do now. 

[00:09:37] Bona Normandeau: It's fascinating for me what takes someone from, I've fixed my problem or I'm fixing my problem. I've got enough information to help myself to take that sort of step to go, I wanna help others.

And I think, you know what it sounded like Stacy is, it was just like you said, you've always been a helper and you had to look. I love your analogy of the blinking light at the end of the, this scary alley, you had to dig so far to find, to figure out what's going on that you just wanted to save other people.

That sort of lost journey of just having no idea and not being able to find the right help. 

[00:10:15] Staci Lynch: Exactly, yes. I want to cut the timeline and I want to have people to be able to feel like that they have support and somebody to talk to. Because it can be really lonely. It No, because you feel like nobody understands.

Through that time where I was going through trying to heal myself, we, you stopped getting invited over to people's houses because you can't eat the food that they're that they're serving. You like your social network can really. Narrow because people don't understand and they're not okay with you saying some people aren't okay with you saying, can I just bring my own food?

I really want to be in your presence. I want to like, I want to build our friendship, but I just need to bring my own food. And some people can't handle that. And so I want to ha be, again, that person that people can talk about this with and be totally open about it and be like, this actually stinks.

And I'm like, yeah, it does, but let's make a plan to make it better and let's build this together. 

[00:11:09] Bona Normandeau: I love how you talked about going to people's houses. 'cause I definitely went through that and that term food fear for me it's still a thing. I'm better at it now and I'll be honest, when you say, people stop inviting you over, I was that person, like when somebody is a vegetarian or was gluten-free or whatever, I was like, oh gosh.

Like I don't know, I can't deal with this. And then, as the world works, then there's me who has these food restrictions. And so then when people invite you over, you're like, oh, that's so nice of you. But I'm a high maintenance guest, right? Like I, I started using that term because I'm like, I.

Even my husband, who's a phenomenal cook, he's I don't know what to feed you anymore. So you do, you get fear around social food. Food that's out of your control. Absolutely. Is that totally resonates with me. I know for me I was excited when I found out you're functional nutrition coach because I actually, I love that light at the end of the dark alley.

I'm gonna keep going back to that one. When I found someone who. Could say, yes, this sucks, but I don't think the traditional system, what they've told you is doing you any good. Which I already knew, but it was nice to hear from someone that I wasn't losing my mind. And so I'm interested to know, so one of the things that, that this nutrition coach did with me is I did some blood work and some I had to send my poop away in, I had to FedEx my poop somewhere.

And that was interesting, but also a bit traumatizing. Do you do that kind of thing, Stacy, do you do those kind of tests? 

[00:12:40] Staci Lynch: That's a great question and yes, I do, but that is definitely not where I start. I think that one of the, one of the things I have found through myself and working with many clients is that if you start with foundations, which most people overlook, that actually alleviates so much of the the trauma as you say it, as sending your poop away.

'Cause a lot of times you don't even need to do those tests because the foundations fix. The foundations heal and they're not a quick fix. I am not, I'm not your quick fix girl. And but they do work. And so as I've have developed the seven pillars that I work with, that I think help make it where you don't have to always, I.

Do those testings. I'm not saying always, if we, I think about it in tiers. So if I think about it in four tiers, if you're walking up four stairs, right? So the first stair is those foundations. Let's build those building blocks, right? And then the second tier is, okay, do we actually need to do some like food elimination to see?

We'll see and we'll test that. And then if you have to walk up the other tier to be like, okay we do need to get, say a GI map or whatever that looks like a Dutch test, whatever then of course we will do that. I do love getting blood work. I, I. That. I think that is helpful.

So I do always recommend having current blood work and keeping on top of that. 

[00:13:57] Bona Normandeau: I love how you said work on the foundation because, 'cause I feel like happiness is like that too. There's some foundational things that you can do that are free, they're at home, they're accessible to you and they're in your control.

But I will say that sometimes what I run up against, and I know this is it for me, sometimes I just want a quick fix. Yeah. And I think like it's the laziness in me that doesn't want to necessarily do all those foundational steps. How do you get people past that laziness or the, I don't know what else to call it.

[00:14:32] Staci Lynch: So first off, I'm gonna if I can tackle two, two things at once. One is I don't think that people are innately lazy. And so I don't think it's laziness at all in people. I think it is just one. They don't understand and have an easy strategy to be able to accomplish what they want to accomplish.

Okay, with my clients, what I do is we do easy plus one. Okay? I want you to practice something until it becomes easy, and then we add the plus one instead of adding every single thing that you're supposed to do. Okay? I'm supposed to get my steps. I'm supposed to drink my water. I'm supposed to eat 150 grams of protein.

I'm supposed to get seven hours of sleep. I'm, I need to lift weights three or four times. Whoa stop. Let's catch our breath. And let's focus on one thing, and let's make that one thing that we're starting with be so effective that you are going to get your quick fix. You are gonna get that immediate relief, but you're also going to start building your foundation.

Does that make sense? 

[00:15:30] Bona Normandeau: Yeah. I love that term easy plus one, because just as you were listing all those things, I'm like, yes. Yeah, I've heard that before. Yeah, I've heard that before. Yeah, I've heard that before. But all of those things. Fit into our already busy lives, right? So I love the easy plus one because it, for me, it goes back to once I identify as a person who does this, right?

Like it's my hydration or just like the whole protein thing, I'm not gonna lie that I find so intimidating. And the macro, all that stuff it's intimidating. So I love your, the way you go at it as easy plus one, because I think that's that's long-term sustainable as opposed to trying it all at once.

And then in a month and a half, if I make it that far like I, I'm like, I can't do this. It's too much. What did you say? It's usually two weeks by two weeks. Yeah, I was gonna say, I think I was being a little generous there. Yeah. Yes. So one of the things I love to ask my guests is just can you just share like some basic practical tools that you think all of us should be doing and maybe like a little bit of one of those foundational things that you think all of us should be doing.

[00:16:38] Staci Lynch: Yes. Should is a 90 word because it it's instills that we're not doing that. We're al we're already judging ourselves that we're not good enough. So I would say could, or can, because I can do this because it's important to me because I want to make, have better health. Do you see what I'm, do you see the switch there?

Totally. I think that really if I had to say one thing I. Above all else, I would say pause before you eat. Sit down, make sure you're sitting down, not running in the car or running, standing up as you're eating, but just sit down and really take either box breathing or 5, 6, 7 breathing. Or even just really just a deep breath in, a deep breath out one or two times before you eat and intentionally chew your food.

So if you have ever felt bloating, if you've ever felt acid reflux, if any of those things that one tip will alleviate so much of your discomfort and that you will be shocked and you, it will probably be harder than you think. 

[00:17:41] Bona Normandeau: I will say when we were prepping for this interview you had mentioned that and I said, oh, I'm gonna try that tonight at supper with my family.

And it was funny because as I was making supper, I was like just, I was munching on veggies. At least it was healthy, but I was munching as I was making supper. And then. Two outta three of us sat down to eat, and I was like we're already literally eating. I'm like wait. We have to stop and breathe.

And like my husband literally, he is I'm like talking him through it as he is chewing and I'm like, yeah, this is, it sounds basic, right? But we flew into supper and then our son flew in and I'm like he just needs to eat. I'm not gonna, he'll probably cry if I say, I need you to breathe before you eat.

Anyway, so it is, it's harder than it sounds. It is. And 

[00:18:23] Staci Lynch: that's that easy plus one, right? So you work 

[00:18:25] Bona Normandeau: on that and then you layer, it's interesting. So the whole thought process behind that, Stacy, is just slowing your body down before you take in food. 

[00:18:35] Staci Lynch: So there's, that one, it seems like it's so simple, but there's so much at play to it.

One thing, it gets your, helps get your central nervous system out of that fight or flight of that friend. Like you said, we're flying in there. Even those, even that term is you can tell a heightened sense of a heightened sense of where you're at in life. And so it calms that nervous system down to be able to let your body digest the food that you're eating.

Okay? So it's helping on, like your. Central nervous side, your digestion side, and then really just being able to to be present with your family too. So it's a relational side as well. 

[00:19:10] Bona Normandeau: I like that one. I shouldn't say I like it. I can see the benefit of it. Yes. And yeah, we'll definitely I'll try and do it before we start eating next time.

[00:19:19] Staci Lynch: So here's another suggestion is I would practice train it by yourself first instead of having your family do it. Pick one meal. And try it for that meal two times this week. Okay. Instead of saying, every time I sit down, I'm gonna breathe before I go. Okay, that's great. Yeah, we all wanna do that, but pick one or two meals of the week and set that as your non-negotiable, right?

My non-negotiable is two times this week for one meal. I'm going to take 10 seconds and do some breathing before I eat. 

[00:19:48] Bona Normandeau: I like it. That feels. Totally doable. And I like taking the pressure off of trying to get the family to do it as well. Like get my buy-in before I start trying to attach it to bringing the family along kind of thing.

That's great. Cool. Anything 

[00:20:03] Staci Lynch: else? So I think that, again, like if we're thinking about that easy plus one and sustainable, I want. Your listeners to go and take that, right? I want you to go practice that. If that is that's dumb, I don't want to do that, then I would say start your day out with eight ounces of water first thing in the morning.

Just make that a non-negotiable habit is just start your day with water and get that early morning sunshine. So five minutes of early morning sunshine will will change your life if you do it consistently. 

[00:20:34] Bona Normandeau: That's interesting. I've been hearing that a lot more lately. And I know in the winter for us, that's not really super easy, but I'm like, given the time of year it is I think it's way more doable and something that I'm like, I think there's mental health benefits to that as well, not just physical absolutely.

[00:20:52] Staci Lynch: Yep. And that does as I'm going through and I have seven pillars that I walk through in my program and one of 'em is mindset. And that definitely, that early morning sunshine definitely plays into that for sure. 

[00:21:03] Bona Normandeau: Is there anything else that you wanted to mention that I didn't, we didn't get to.

[00:21:08] Staci Lynch: So I think that I'm gonna take one step back and I want to talk about the pillars. Okay. I want to just and, because then what I want you to do is I want you to pick one pillar to focus on first. Okay. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. So I want to be able to have you visualize in your mind, if you think about if you think about a column, a Roman column, okay, that's a pillar and it.

In that column, there are seven sides of that column. And they all connect together. They're all, they're all like flush with each other to, to create a really strong pillar. And that's what I want you to think of as whole health, right? So those sides of that pillar are mindset, nutrition.

Hydration, sleep optimization, muscle and movement, stress management and recovery and hormone and gut health. Okay, so that is your whole health pillar, okay? So if you think about it in that way, I want you to think about how can I work on one of those pieces of the pillars? Okay? So if that is going to be gut health, and we talked about, taking a couple breaths before you eat, slowing your food down or slowing your chewing down.

As you eat and really being mindful, okay, that's one piece of one pillar, okay? And then you build on that. Okay? Another thing, like if we're talking about hydration, that's another pillar, right? So if we say we're gonna get eight ounces of water first thing in the morning before we put anything else in our mouth to get our body hydrated again, that's a one piece of the pillar, and you're doing that again, if I'm bringing it back to the easy plus one.

You're doing that until that's easy, and they're like, okay, now I can increase my water again. I'm gonna shoot for this many ounces a day. And then again, like just pick one of those pillars and do the easy plus one. I always ask my clients on a scale of one to 10, one being it's not happening on the side of heaven, and 10 being, oh yeah, that's no problem at all.

That's super easy when you have that easy plus one. I want the goal that you're looking for to be a nine and a half or a 10 if it is not. You need to make sure that your goal is set at one step down because success breeds success. And if you can make yourself feel and be successful, you will want to carry on.

So that two week one and a half month follow up doesn't happen because you are just seeing success after success. 

[00:23:25] Bona Normandeau: And that feels very, like just hearing you talk about it, it feels very doable. And I know in today's d. World that we want the quick fix and we wanna rush in and get results. But again, what you're talking about sounds, yeah, almost exciting.

Once I nail that, then it's okay, I'm ready. What else can I succeed at? Kind of thing. Exactly. 

[00:23:45] Staci Lynch: Exactly. And that's what I actually see over and over in my clients is coming in probably a little bit defeated and a little bit overwhelmed and realizing it does not have to be that way.

Health does not have to be hard. 

[00:24:00] Bona Normandeau: Cool. I love it. I you've inspired me. I have to say this can be a very discouraging journey but when you explain that easy plus one formula, it yeah, it all feels doable. Yeah. 

[00:24:11] Staci Lynch: So I think that really, I want to give your listeners the, confidence that your success is inevitable.

I believe that for every single person. And if you don't have enough belief in yourself, please borrow mine 'cause I have enough for both of us. 

[00:24:28] Bona Normandeau: Now, Stacy, if people want to know more about you and your program where do they find you? 

[00:24:34] Staci Lynch: So I have a free Facebook group that I'm in five days a week.

We have challenges, we do fun things in there. So that's where I'm probably where you have the most. Intimate access with me. I'm also on Instagram and have fun over there. So I'd love to have you over there. And I do send out three emails a week that I hope and pray. That always gives you tools and actionable things to to take away and implement in your own life and make your life better through, through that.

So I think that those three streams are ways to be able to connect with me. 

[00:25:07] Bona Normandeau: I love it. Very cool. Okay, so I did remember to warn you that I am looking for your favorite quotes. So what did you come up with? 

[00:25:17] Staci Lynch: Okay as you, as the first thing that pops in my mind, and usually that's what I try to go with, is Luke 2 52.

And in that verse it talks about how Jesus grew. And if Jesus is growing that way, I feel like that is the perfect pattern and example for us to grow to. And it said that Jesus grew in wisdom, in stature in favor with God, in favor with man. And with wisdom, that's our knowledge. That is just, how we function in the world, right?

The choices that we make, stature is our physical body. So that is what, that's what whole health is those four areas in relationship with God and relationship with man, and relationship with man includes ourself. I include us in that because we're also called to love our neighbors as ourself. And if we don't love ourselves, there's no way that we can love our neighbors to the best of our ability.

So I think that those area, that, that verse just encapsulates everything that my program and that really that I stand on to be able to have whole health. 

[00:26:13] Bona Normandeau: I love it. And Stacy, I appreciate you coming here and sharing your passion and your knowledge. And I know for me, whole health is definitely something that I've been focusing on more and more lately because I find it's hard to l live your best life.

When, your physical body just can't keep up with what you wanna do. And then of course, if you don't, if your body doesn't feel good, it's hard to get excited about things and go all in. Thank you for being here and sharing what you do and your methodology and your passion with us.

I really appreciate it. It was so fun to have you. I'm sure we'll have you back. 

[00:26:49] Staci Lynch: Thank you so much. I appreciate being here and I hope that it served somebody and even if you can take one little piece and implement that into your life, I pray that's a blessing for you. 

[00:26:58] Bona Normandeau: Awesome. Thanks again, Daisy.

Alright. Happy people. Remember when you have a choice. She's happy. Have a good one and go get your happy on, have

[00:27:08] Staci Lynch: ready to roll when you are. Hopefully I remember everything I'm supposed to say. 

[00:27:14] Bona Normandeau: Okay. Oh, 

[00:27:17] Staci Lynch: nice stretch. You ready? 

[00:27:18] Bona Normandeau: Yes. Okay. I was born ready. All right, let's do the thing. And Stacey is a certified nutritional. Nope, Stacey is. Okay. I'm gonna try that again. And that's a wrap. And that's a wrap.