Main causes of stress
My job is multi-faceted, so there is always someone looking for you. The danger is that you try to spread yourself all over the place.
We have the cookery school, where we could have as many as 12 different nationalities; I write a weekly column for the Examiner; and I am writing my 12th book. Books are stressful because the recipes have to work. You have so much proofing to do.
We also have the organic farm and garden and, on a Saturday, I do a farmers' market in Midleton. So it can be stressful trying to keep everything going.
I have really good help, but then someone wants to move on and you have to train up someone else.
Apparently, I look relaxed when I do television, but I find it very stressful. It's just you and the camera, and nothing else. By the end of a series, you are quite relaxed, but then it's over and you have to start all over again.
Coping with stress
My husband and I go make sure we go for a walk every evening and I find that really, really relaxing. Even more relaxing is hillwalking, but I don't do that as much.
If I wake up at night, I love to listen to Radio 4 or to Lyric FM. I read quite a bit too. But travel is the most relaxing thing I do. I am going to India with my two daughters and I'm really looking forward to that. I believe that a change is as good as a rest.
Concerns for the future
I am deeply worried about what is happening to our food. We need to think a little more about what we are shovelling into our bodies.
We are living on the good health we inherited from our ancestors, but what are we going to pass on to the next generation?
In conversation with Alison Healy