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.

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.