Celebrity Health - Lucy Kennedy
Keeping in shape for a TV career
Lucy Kennedy is from Dun Laoghaire and a well-known face on Irish TV, having hosted numerous programmes including Livin’ with Lucy, The Lucy Kennedy Show and Charity Lords of the Ring and on radio for her RTÉ 2fm breakfast show Weekend Breakfast with Baz and Lucy. She talks to Rude Health about her healthy life…
What sort of exercise do you do to keep in shape?
“We live near Dun Laoghaire pier so I am always there running and walking. My children Jack who is three and Holly who is 16 months keep me really busy. Jack is very active and needs constant activity so we are always running around the garden or the zoo. Holly has been walking for a while so I am like a human barrier running after her and keeping her out of trouble.”
What sort of foods do you eat to stay healthy?
“I absolutely love salads – I could eat salad every day. I also love roasted vegetables. To be honest I just love food and will eat everything except for oysters. I used to be very naughty with white bread and pick up a breakfast roll in the mornings – I could have lived on bread. Now I try to limit white bread to a weekend treat. I drink a lot of water but I will admit to using tea and coffee to give me get up and go in the mornings. One Irish product that I have in the last year included in my diet is Chia Bia products, I find the chia seeds keep me fuller for longer and also give me a lot more energy.”
Do you take any natural supplements?
“I take Ferrograd C, which is an iron tablet that has vitamin C. Pharmaton multivitamins give me energy and I can tell when I’ve forgotten to take them. And I take Berocca every now and again when I need a boost.”
Did you find it difficult to get back into shape after having Holly?
“Six months after I had Holly in October 2012 none of my clothes fit and I was feeling sluggish and heavy. Baby weight is very hard to shift, it’s impossible to find time to go to the gym every day and none of us has personal chefs. Then I got a call giving me four weeks’ notice of going back on TV and needed to do something fast. So I went on a strict supervised medical diet where you are given hormone drops and have 500 calories a day for 20 days. I went down from 10½ stone to 9½ stone and at 5 feet 4 inches this can make a real difference on TV which puts 10lbs on you.
The nutritionist gave me great advice about which kinds of foods I should and shouldn’t eat. One thing I learned on the diet was to double my water intake – it’s much more important than I thought. I also learned that I was eating too many carbs and not burning them off.”
What was the TV programme about?
“It was a documentary for RTÉ called The Story of Chocolate: from Bean to Bar. I went to Ghana and met the farmers who grow the beans, went on a journey to find out about how it makes its way into the chocolate bars we eat, and ended up in Cadbury in Coolock. It was fascinating.”
Do you ever worry about your health?
“I worry more about my health since becoming a mum and am trying to be a little more healthy now I am in my late 30s. I think you become more health conscious with age.”
How do you keep your skin and hair in great condition?
“I really need to look after my skin because I have sun damage from doing loads of sunbathing when I was younger with only SPF4. Then I got chloasma – known as the pregnancy mask where you get pigmentation on your face – with both pregnancies and looked like I had a moustache.
After I had Holly and my hormones had settled down I got some advice about it and it turns out the sun damage was the real culprit. So now I am very strict with my skin. I am a Dermalogica girl and would cleanse, apply a daily facial scrub, skin smoothing cream and eye cream.
I am fastidious about brushing teeth, and am good about getting regular trims at the hairdresser.”
How do you relax when you are not in the public eye?
“I live a pretty low key life really. I am the girl next door type likely to wear jeans in the local pub. I love to just spend time with my children and husband when I’m not working. Family time is really important. In the evenings I read as it helps to relax my brain and I love gardening.”
Do you have any healthy tips for Rude Health readers?
- Drink lots of water – it’s simple and free.
- Wear SPF50 on your face – do not let the sun hit your face as you will pay for it later, especially in pregnancy.
- Someone once said to be that brown fat is better than white – wear fake tan if you feel overweight, you will appear slimmer.
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