Health scan: Yvonne Keating

Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle?
I don't think I have a healthy lifestyle at the moment. I go through phases, it's a bit all or nothing. I need to find a balance between healthy living as opposed to extreme exercise and eating very healthily for a couple of months and then I kind of take my eye off the ball and it all goes to pot.


How often do you exercise?
It's all or nothing. I have gone through phases where I'll exercise every single day, seven days a week, to doing nothing, where literally I don't exercise for months and months. I'm either in that frame of mind or I'm not. At the moment I'm not exercising at all. In saying that, I am a very active person, I don't stop from morning until night. When I do exercise, in summer I like to play tennis and in winter I'd go to the gym.


Do you get your five a day?
Never, ever, ever – up until about six months ago, I didn't eat vegetables at all. I have now started. I've accepted that if I'm to be a decent cook, I have to eat the things that I'm cooking so I've started to try to eat them. Up until the last six months, I just didn't eat them. I tried to hide that from my kids but they eventually copped on to it.


Do you worry?
I'm not a worrier because it doesn't really change a situation and it doesn't benefit you. I'd stress in the moment about something if I'm very, very busy, but I try to harness it and make that work for me. And it does; if I have a lot on my plate, that stress helps me to knuckle down and get through it.

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What do you do to relax?
One of my favourite things is to go out with friends and enjoy some food and a glass of wine. If I'm on my own, I love the luxury of having time to read.


What's your unhealthiest habit?
It's eating copious amounts of chocolate. The cheap stuff.


Yvonne Keating is a Bord Bia Quality Mark ambassador. Visit facebook.com/bordbia to read about her favourite recipes.

Joanne Hunt

Joanne Hunt

Joanne Hunt, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about homes and property, lifestyle, and personal finance