LIFESTYLE Q&A:Sophie Cashell, concert pianist
Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle?I try to be health conscious but quite often I leave my good intentions behind, especially if I'm faced with a huge bar of chocolate.
I also find it hard to fit in regular exercise with travel and changing schedules, but luckily playing the piano means that I expend a lot of calories every day while I’m practising.
How often do you exercise?I tend to have sporadic exercise kicks. I've tried lots of different things, from Bikram yoga to Zumba to Power Plate.
I’ve never been a gym member – in fact, the one time I tried a treadmill I was told I’d been running at a walking pace.
Do you get your five a day?I'm an apple addict, so I have to try to restrict myself to a couple a day. Apart from that it can be very up and down – if I'm cooking, I will eat lots of veg, but if I'm lazy I end up eating mostly carbohydrate-based meals.
Do you worry?I always say that my mum does enough worrying for me not to have to, but of course with a performance-based career, stress is a permanent factor. I am generally a laid-back person, but if I'm preparing for a big concert then nerves can get in the way.
What do you do to relax?I bake! I absolutely couldn't live without it. My flatmate jokes that she loves it when I'm stressed because I end up in the kitchen at one in the morning waiting for cakes/cookies/anything unhealthy to be ready which we then demolish in no time.
What's your unhealthiest habit?Eating all the ingredients when I'm baking. It is physically impossible for me not to lick the bowl after.
Sophie Cashell performs the solo piano version of Mussorgsky’s
Pictures at an Exhibition
at the National Concert Hall on Friday at 7pm. See rte.ie/nationalsymphony orchestra
