Health Scan: Catherine Fulvio

Author, owner of Ballyknocken House & Cookery School

Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle?
I do. I try to balance diet and exercise as much as I can. Like anybody running their own business, I tend to work more than I really should to have a healthy lifestyle.


How often do you exercise?
About three or four times a week. We have a lovely forest behind the house so I head up there with our dog. My job requires me to be on my feet all the time and moving in and out to the herb garden or vegetable garden so it's fairly active. I'd be quite tired at the end of a weekend of cookery classes.

I signed up to Pilates but I only got to go once. It’s hard to stick to a time because my schedule is not fixed.


Do you get your five a day?
I do and I put a huge emphasis on that with my family. It's not just getting the five; it's the colour as well for the variety of nutrients. We grow quite a lot for the cookery school – courgettes, artichokes, beans, peas, potatoes, broccoli, celery, salad leaves, apples, pears, all of that. It's all pesticide-free.

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Do you worry?
I do a little. I worry mostly about business. When you are running your own business you are going to have a few concerns that keep you awake at night but nothing major.


What do you do to relax?
That I find very difficult to do because I'm so used to being on the move. I like to go to the cinema. If I really can't get off the couch on a Sunday after three cookery classes back to back, I'll send my husband in for a DVD and we'll watch a family movie together.


What's your unhealthiest habit?
It's my love of chocolate. The dark chocolate is the one I yearn for most, but I'll eat anything. You are only supposed to eat two squares a day but I'm on a different planet when it comes to chocolate.

Catherine Fulvio will give live cooking demonstrations at Bord Bia's Bloom, the Phoenix Park, May 30th-June 3rd.

Joanne Hunt

Joanne Hunt

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