Today Dannie and Caitlyn are talking with Lennis Perez.

We believe in accessible content and that anyone who wants to learn from this content should be able to. In order to support this, we’ve had every episode of Season 4 transcribed. The transcriptions are available at the bottom of every episode blog post.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:

• The power of prepping for your week and how great a routine can be. 

• The power of post its! 

• How to create a truly unique voice in a space many think are overly competitive.

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FOLLOW YOUR HOSTS: D Website | D Instagram // C Website | C Instagram

Dannie Lynn Fountain: [00:00:21] Hello and welcome back to the side health of GAO podcast. And I am so excited to share today that we're talking with Lennis Perez, who I have gotten to know over the past few years, uh, through the, we all grow at Latina community. Although I will say, I think this is going to be our first in depth conversation.  And so I'm so excited to be talking. Lennis, I'm going to pass it over to you. Please feel free to tell us. What you do in your side hustle, why you identify with this community, et cetera. 

Lennis Perez: [00:00:52] Hi, ladies. First, I am so thankful and excited to be part of this episode and podcast. I've listened to it and I feel so inspired when I'm hearing ladies talk about their journeys. So it's really amazing to be a part of it. So just to give a quick into the introduction again, my name is Lennis and my side hustle is wellness consulting, and it transformed from a healthy food blog to a, um. Trying to cook more Latin American foods without, um, making it so heavy in oils, et cetera, due to my own health conditions.

And then it just, I just realized that there was more in this space that needed to be spoken about, especially as I'm Latina, um, and someone that even though. I may not look like I have any health issues that are some predispositions in my life. And then also the mental health that comes as part of our overall wellbeing.

So I decided to create a space where. Uh, women and men feel secure and comfortable. And now I say the, my mission is really helping professionals and entrepreneurs because I linger in both spaces as a side hustler, um, become the healthiest version of themselves so they can really share their strengths and their gifts with the community.

Because we really need everyone to bring their best game. And I'm here to help. I love that. We both love it. 

Caitlyn Allen: [00:02:35] I feel like health as an entrepreneur is such a big like deal. . First off, we don't take care of ourselves. Second off, we barely think about ourselves because we're always working on the next hustle. So even just thinking about the mindset aspect or the food that we're consuming, because we are most of the time cooking quick meals or, you know, trying to eat as fast as we can. So we're cooking great meals for ourselves. Oh, I'm so excited to dive a little bit deeper in on this topic, and it's specifically huge to me right now because I just went Keto.  So I'm about 17 days Keto, which I'm less of a cranky meanie face. Then I was a couple of weeks. So, um, I think I'm super excited to talk more about this with you. Um, what would you say, so I know you talked a little bit about your health conditions, but what was your inspiration from going from the blog into coaching specifically.

Lennis Perez: [00:03:43] So the biggest thing is, um, I was trying to find my unique voice in the space. And there are a lot of, uh, amazing, incredible food bloggers that are truly passionate just about food. And I kept finding myself kind of. Diversion and talking about the mindset, as you said, it's not just about what are you cooking?

No, it's why are you, you know, creating this habit for your yourself? Why can you do to make it easier for you to. Create unhealthier space around yourself on not only in the kitchen, but when you travel. Because as professionals and as intrepreneurs and side hustlers, I find that we are a community of givers.

We love to get, we'd love to, and the biggest struggle that I find, not just from myself, but in the community is how do I pray? How do we prioritize. Ourselves in the midst of giving so much and helping others, and that's why I created this, this message of that that really pool my calling and it feels so aligned with me now, is you are doing an incredible job as a side hustler and as a professional person, what did, you can bring your a plus game to it by making. The better decisions for your health, and it's just letting go of some of that guilt that we've been conditioned with. 

Dannie Lynn Fountain: [00:05:12] So there's been a lot of talk lately about, um, can healthy and meaningful and well prepared food. Also be fast, convenient, and easy. And I would love your thoughts on this. 

Lennis Perez: [00:05:28] Yes, it can. So the biggest thing is, um, trying to understand what your lifestyle is. If you really are running and on the go. And I did it, I worked full time. I actually, I take care of my debt too, and I have to side hustle and I'm a multi-passionate interpreter. How the heck am I going to find time to cook and to like repair this healthful meals that are tasty for me? So what I found is I started with getting the right tools in my kitchen.

Instant pot is my lifesaver. Vitamix. It's my second favorite person in that kitchen because these are tools where I sit at and forget it. I make smoothies in the morning and I actually batched the smoothies so I make a full Vitamix. I have three smoothies for the you know, for the mornings, for every day, so. You just have to play with it.

You really have to kind of start small. I always say, don't try to budge a full week if you don't even get in the kitchen. Step number one is get in the kitchen maybe Saturday or maybe Sunday and spend or put a timer and say, in 30 minutes, what can I make. That's going to taste good and that I know it's good for me.

Start with that. Does one day and then do it for a month or talents yourself. Like, you know you're doing Keto and it's showing you how your body reacts to these new way of eating. And like you said, you're not cranky anymore. So now your buddy is giving you a feedback. So start small and listen to your body. And there are ways that you will start learning how to incorporate more and more of those things. So there are ways to just need to. Kind of again, give yourself some grace and say, yes, I'm going to do this. I'm going to start very small with something that's sustainable for me and my lifestyle right now. And that's the biggest thing to make it sustainable. 

Caitlyn Allen: [00:07:31] So something I want to ask you about is this. Uh, idea of mindful eating. Um, especially when it comes to dietary restrictions that we're seeing a lot recently. Um, I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance and I'm , um, borderline celiac now that how can you be mindful when you're hating the foods that you're eating because you're not being able to eat the foods that you want to eat. Um, and how to like switch that mindset ?

Lennis Perez: [00:08:02] so I think the biggest thing with that is I call it replacing, not restraining. Right? Cause when you're restricting and restraining yourself, it has this negative emotion where it's like I can't, you are not allowed to. It's no, no, no. It's this very negative thing in your mind versus I choose to replace. You know, the piece of bread that I really want to have with maybe some on crackers or rice crackers, something that I can tolerate. How can I make these tasty? Right? Because at the end of the day, your, your mind is reacting to all this flavors exploding in your mouth and your mouth. And if you are.

Craving something that you know is not good for you. Okay. How can I replace that? So one of the things I love you seeing is the cheeky, and it's also coming into it with the mindset of, okay, it may not take exactly the same as the Bowl of nice creamy Alfredo pasta, but what can I do with this to make it taste good for me such that I feel great with this replacement and I am one of the examples I give in in that online course I have is.

I love my mac and cheese Absolutely in love. So I had to figure out how to make and healthier version of mac and cheese. You've seen, um, particularly past using butternut squash as my creaminess instead of heavy cream. So those are things that I was playing in the kitchen and saying, it's not that I'm going to stop eating Mac and cheese. I'm just going to create a better version of my mac and cheese. 

Caitlyn Allen: [00:09:55] Oh, that's so good. Yeah. I think. That can easily translate into, okay, how can I, I know that I have a busy day. How can I easily make something that I know is good for me, but also quick and on the go? And it not be a salad every single time unless you love salads.

In that case, you do. You know? But let's be honest, most of us don't want to eat a salad all day, every day. Um, Oh, I love that. So. I really want to know kind of what your routine looks like. Then if you are prepping one time a week or every morning, what is, what does your routine look like? 

Lennis Perez: [00:10:38] So my routine right now, it's quite structured. So for my full time job, um. You know, I'm in Texas. The team that I worked with is out of Germany and New Jersey. So we are in three completely different time zones. So my day starts really early. That god, I'm a morning person. Um, so pretty much what I, what I've created for myself is in the morning, I have a posted on my mirror in the bathroom that says, create before you consume.

So I have to create before I go through emails, before I look at social media, before I even look on my phone, I actually have a separate alarm clock, so it's not in my cell phone, so I don't get triggered by the little notifications. So what I do is I give myself the time to journal and do some slow breathing exercises. That takes about, um, a total of 30 minutes in my morning. Then I jump out, and this is where the meal prep and comes in handy. I tug on my breakfast  on Sunday. Enough for the week such that I just dump them and cook them and they're literally done in about 10 minutes. I make out Arepas from Venezuela, which are also done in like 15 minutes.

So literally I have breakfast done. The dough is already made the biggest already tucked. Breakfast had done in 15 minutes, and then I just sit down and start, um, start working, start going through emails, et cetera. And then usually I eat for lunch, the leftovers from dinner the night before. So that's the other thing.

You kind of have to get used to repeating some meals, but it's also the convenient. So I cook dinner every night. I make a lot of food, so I have less. So where's the next day for months? So I don't have to be cooking for that. So those are my two hacks is meal prep. All my veggies, um, on Sundays for breakfast, make it sustainable for me.

I spend about an hour. Top, invitees, et cetera. And then, um. Make an offer at dinner. So I have leftovers for lunch. So leftovers prepping. It's my, it's my hat or my, uh, Daily routine. 

Dannie Lynn Fountain: [00:13:00] So I'm curious. Um, I used to live the dream of just being at home and being able to eat what I had prepared or cooked at home. I think the biggest thing that I struggle with. now and selfishly, this is a very personal question. Um, I am constantly on the road and even when I'm home, I'm usually in an Airbnb downtown in Chicago because I live in the suburbs. Now. How can you integrate meal prep into a lifestyle that is constantly on the go and doesn't have reliable access to refrigeration or microwave or stove?

Lennis Perez: [00:13:39] Yeah, I love this. So one of the things I always do when I travel is I find a local supermarket or I find a, um, a whole foods. I, you know, cause they have, usually they have either, uh, foods that are already prepared for you. Or, um, you have the salad bar that you can go to in the hot bar, then you can go to, so, and I actually did this one time that I went to Las Vegas. I literally an end, you know, unless they, cause they have. Sensor, um, refrigerators or if you move something, they charge your stuff like crap. Okay. Unless it's for medication, they re, you know, don't, don't kind of help you out with the refrigerator. They want to, I made sure that they charged them for whatever you have.

So I literally took the cooler, filled that up with Ice and put like yogurts and mine, my smoothie juices in there and had a bowl of fruits. On the side. So when I want to snack, I knew I had something in there. Granola doesn't go bad, so if I'm going to eat some Granola yogurt for breakfast, it's right there.

The yogurt isn't so anything that, like you said, that needs to be refrigerated. This is where my engineer's side comes out and I'm like, okay, how can I figure this out so it works for me so I can, I can still be a little bit more mindful. The other thing I do is I have like my go too fast food places chipotle. is one of them. I love going to chipotle. I usually ask them to double the veggies for that, for, for my bowl. Um, that's one of the places that I love to go to. And then also going to a restaurant. And if you go to the restaurant for dinner, just kind of, um, ask for a container to take home. And then the next day, even at the local supermarkets, now they have a microwave.

So you can bring your leftovers from dinner and just to get up out of uncle's story, if you can find a place or you know, somewhere that would be convenient. A lot of places are kind of open if you ask to help you, you know, to let you heat up the food, et cetera. So those are kind of my hacks when I'm on the go, is.

I'm seeing how my schedule is going to be, and then looking at ways where I can help myself and always, literally, always go and buy giant bottles of water. So I always stay hydrated. That's the other thing I've made sure that I had in hand when I go in. I'm like crazy everywhere. 

Caitlyn Allen: [00:16:26] Another quick hack I have, because being Keto, there's like zero ever options places. Um, there is a backpack that you can buy that actually has a pouch that's specific to cold. And so then you can put some ice packs in there and use that because with Keto, you're . Percentage of fat intake is like 70% and you have like zero carbs, so it's a lot of cheese or meats or stuff like that. So yeah, the backpack just has a little, little cooler section and it's, it's awesome.

Lennis Perez: [00:17:02] So yes, that's a great idea too. Yeah. 

Dannie Lynn Fountain: [00:17:07] So I'm curious, um, how your business has evolved the more that wellness becomes a trend. Cause I know five, even 10 years ago, this was a very tough conversation to be having, but as the wellness movement continues to eke more and more into like the central culture of our world, how has that helped what you do evolve.

Lennis Perez: [00:17:31] So I think is now people are starting to kind of awaken to this. Um, other ways of taking care of ourselves. And wellness has a variety of meaning and it has kind of become one of those, uh, trendy boards. Uh, so it, it becomes a little bit challenging to differentiate themselves. Cause when you talk about wellness.

People may think, Oh, so you mean you use essential oils and you do these other things? I was like, no, that's not exactly what I do. Um, it's kind of interesting to navigate as it continues to grow and explode before my own, um, business journey. I'll say. Being able to offer, um, online courses to connect with the community that way has been key in expanding it and growing it.

Also being able to do in person talks and workshops. I did a workshop last year where. People that are looking to improve their habits and their general wellbeing are attracted to those kinds of events. Working with local studios, yoga studios, or places like that. Um, it really helps. It's, it's, it's becoming more and more open for people, um, for you to bring these conversations into the mainstream.

I've done things that. School through the whole kids foundation where we do, um, presentation and a quick cooking demo because teachers are, we all are super busy. Um. They have a lot on their plate, and it's just finding ways to help. So there's many opportunities. And I will say for anyone that's thinking of getting into the wellness space and things, there's so much competition.

It's like, no, your voice is unique. Your experience is unique. You don't know who's going to be listening to you, that's going to be inspired. So don't stop and just keep going. If it's really your calling and really your passion to help someone else, just put it out there, even though it's scary and you have to be vulnerable many times because again, I'm talking about my own personal experience, my mental health issues, my own, um, predispositions for our, this season, all of these other things that come from my family.

Those are things you're not supposed to be talking about out loud five or 10 years ago. So now it's being vulnerable. Putting yourself out there and thinking about that one person that might benefit from your message. One person to me, it's worth it. It's more than enough. 

Caitlyn Allen: [00:20:15] So I have to ask, you said you're Latina. How are you trying to shift the mindset in that community or in your community? Because I know as somebody who lives on the border here. Girl, the food we are eating is delicious, but it is, it's not I, yeah, it's not healthy. I mean, it's not that. It's not, you know what I mean? You know what, um, how, how, what are a few ways that we can make Latina food is Latino, Latino.

Latinex. Yeah. I don't know which way to say it. Um, how do we, how can we go about making that food even a little bit healthier? 

Lennis Perez: [00:21:05] So it really depends. That's the end. That's kind of why I started. My YouTube channel has, I think, over 50 recipes on how to do it. And my most popular, my most popular recipes from three years ago, because I made with plantains with no oil. So how can you make so there are ways that you're getting, you got tweak the foods and the meals to make them healthier. The biggest thing is lead by example. I love sharing food with people. I feel that it brings us together. So if I can invite people over, you know, nine out of 10 times they are going to ask me for a recipe and then just share it.

Does sharing it out there and even offering, Hey, you know, next time I'll go to your house and we take her place and I can show you how, how to, uh, how to make it a little bit better to me is again, um, helping people find ways to, um, get more into better things for themselves. Um. You know, add more on more vegetables into your rice, for example.

And I know we as Latinas, we love our white rice, but guess what, right? If you add a little bit of parsley and some bell peppers into it, it's going to make it tasty and it's gonna go where the carbs that you're getting. So, you know, there's tricks and tips, and like I said, no restriction, guys. Let's just.

Find ways to make it fun, to make it taste good. And you know, if I show you my grocery list from 20 years ago, you will be laughing because it is what you, what you see right now, living on the border. That's pretty much a staple. It was a journey. It took me, um, you know, about 15 years to finally modified what I'm consistently using now in the kitchen.

All right, it's you can, you just have to take a one small bite at a time, just one small thing at a time and that's how you make progress. 

Dannie Lynn Fountain: [00:23:15] Speaking of one step at a time, uh, what advice would you give to other folks who are trying to grow their side hustle, who are trying to stay authentic to the things that they believe in, even before or as that thing becomes a trend? Like what are your, what are your thoughts. 

Lennis Perez: [00:23:36] So my biggest thing is, and as I mentioned earlier, we really are people that want to give and want to help. So as long as we focus our energy on, Mmm. Shining the light outside instead of inside, because when we kind of turn in judge the work that we're doing, we start getting scared.

We started getting into perfectionism. We started getting, so think about. Put a picture in front of you, of the person that you're trying to help put, you know, put messages around your area and your computer as your background of those who you're trying to really improve their lives or help them out and focus on that lead that be your driving force.

Um, that way your brain is going to have a hard time to turn that focus into yourself. Putting out there and being shamed or being judged. Because let's be honest, we all are so afraid of being judged and being called out for not really knowing what we're doing. That's like the biggest thing as a psych Hostler that's so scary.

So focus on what you're deeming. Focus on that energy of shining the light out and being able to project out your gift. At the end of the day is your debt. And you know, we are our biggest judge, so. Switch that brain so it's producing and not self judging.

Caitlyn Allen: [00:25:06] And fuel it. Well,

well, Oh my gosh, this was such a great episode. I think it's something that you don't hear, uh, a lot on a lot of the entrepreneurial podcasts or talking about wellness or the food that we're putting into our body. So I am so thankful that you. Joined us and are here chatting about it. And, um, I want to make sure that everybody knows where to follow you.

So can you tell us, uh, how we can get in touch with you and follow you and where to find you? 

Lennis Perez: [00:25:42] Absolutely. So as I mentioned, I have a YouTube channel where I am talking all about wellness. Food and nutrition, et cetera. I pose weekly episodes. It's a bilingual channel. So for any fellow Spanish speaking community, it's also available Lenise Perez TV, and I'm sure you ladies will leave the link in the notes.

So on YouTube, basically Lennis TV. And then I also have, um, two online courses. One, it's about identifying and releasing the most common of wellness blocks. That we all have. Um, and what are the strategies that are going to help you overcome them? And that's, I'm on. Len is perez.com uh, sorry, Len is Perez that Thinkific that come.

And then there's another one that's called detune died and for good, where I teach you how to start list into your body and give you some of the strategies that I shared here, but go a little bit more in depth. So those are the two places where I would recommend you to go follow. And with Instagram you can send me a DM, whereas another score I had with everyone, even if it goes into the requested, I checked that and I T I love talking to the people I'm helping out. Yeah. 

Caitlyn Allen: [00:27:02] Awesome. Well, thank you so much. 

Lennis Perez: [00:27:04] Thank you ladies. This was a pleasure. So happy to be here.