Jan O'Sullivan, Limerick East TD and Labour spokeswoman on health, talks to JOANNE HUNT
Do you have a healthy lifestyle?
Some elements of my lifestyle are very healthy, others are pretty bad. I have a balanced diet and I’m a great believer in heading off illness before it happens if possible.
If I feel I’m getting a cold, I eat loads of oranges and, even if it’s not scientific, it seems to work.
On the negative side, my job involves a lot of time sitting at desks and in meetings.
How often do you exercise?
I’ve been doing two sun salutation yoga poses every morning for the past 30 years. I reckon if I keep doing it, I won’t stiffen up!
I have a long walk every Sunday morning with a group of friends, either along the banks of the Shannon or in the hills around the midwest. I spend a lot of the summer in the magnificent Burren in Co Clare.
Apart from that, I get very little exercise except for knocking on doors.
Do you get your five a day?
Yes, I love fruit and get my supplies at the great Limerick market on Saturday mornings.
Do you worry?
I used to worry a lot, but I have taught myself not to clog up my brain with scenarios that might never happen.
I try to think about problems with a view to solving them rather than dwelling on the parts of them that I have no control over.
What do you do to relax?
My two sun salutations and a bit more yoga, reading in bed, watching the rugby, going to hear live music, walking, laughing and occasionally singing with my friends and family.
What’s your unhealthiest habit?
Eating too much chocolate, which I love. I have a T-shirt with a slogan that says, truthfully, “I have never met a chocolate I didn’t like.”
