Walking for Better Health (Plus Soup Recipe) by Dr. Marta Katalenas

Walking is an easy exercise modality available to everyone. Walking in the morning stimulates the body’s metabolic rate for the day making us more productive and energized.

Some Japanese companies encourage their employees to exercise for a few minutes at the beginning of the working day, in order to boost their productivity.

We started a walking club at the Pediatric Center of Round Rock, and you can start something similar at your office, now matter how large or small it is. Right now it is just five of us, but we are having a lot of fun as we enjoy the fresh spring air in the morning. We walk for about 30 minutes around the Round Rock Hospital campus and surrounding area, from 8 AM to 8:30 AM.

Winter is not a good season for me because it keeps me inside too much. The spring, summer, and fall months allow one to get outside more, to get fresh air and exercise. Now that I started walking again I feel like taking every opportunity to escape out of the house with any excuse in mind. Yesterday, as I was starting dinner, I realized I needed a couple of ingredients for my meal. My daughter and I strapped the dogs in their harnesses, grabbed the eco-friendly reusable grocery bag and started our walk to the grocery store.

I was planning on cooking black-eyed peas for dinner, but at the last minute I found out I was missing leeks and carrots. The ingredients for my black-eyed pea soup include a 1 bag of peas (1 lb), 1 leek, 2 carrots, 1 medium onion, 2 garlic cloves, olive oil and pimenton (Spanish Paprika). When I looked in the refrigerator I found no leeks and no carrots. Surprise! But I did have a bunch of celery that was looking at me with despair while appearing warped and sad. The peas had been soaking since the morning and there was no turning back now.

While my daughter got the dogs ready to walk to the store, I salted the onion, garlic and cut-up celery in some olive oil. A couple of minutes later I added the black-eyed peas, stirring constantly and added water to cover. I turned the stove to low and I instructed my husband to keep an eye on the soup, adding cold water if needed, while we walked to the store to buy the leeks and carrots.

It was warm and humid, which made us use even more energy during the walk. The dogs loved it; they enjoy stopping at the park for some water in the middle of the trip.

By the time we made it back to the house the soup was already cooked. Soaking the beans ahead really cuts down cooking time. I didn’t see the need to add the leeks and carrots now, when the other ingredients were completely cooked.

The next step consisted of heating some olive oil in a saucepan and adding two links of sausage, cut up in small pieces. Then we added a couple of teaspoonfuls of Spanish paprika (pimenton) and when the sausage was mildly brown, we added it all to the peas, stirring all ingredients together. We add salt to taste and the soup was complete.

We prepared a green salad with some lettuce and tomatoes and dinner was done. Painless! A couple of slices of French bread gave the final touch.

Who said cooking a healthy meal has to be elaborate and difficult?