Health scan lifestyle Q&A

Frances Black, singer, founder of The Rise Foundation


Frances Black, singer, founder of The Rise Foundation

Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle?

It’s not too bad. I don’t drink and I don’t smoke and I try to walk for at least half an hour every day. I’d like to do more exercise, but I don’t seem to have time.

How often do you exercise?

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I walk four or five times a week to or from work, or go for a cycle. I take the dogs for a walk two or three evenings a week. I don’t live far from the canal so I walk them there but getting to the Phoenix Park is what I love.

Do you get your five a day?

I definitely wouldn’t get five fruit or veg a day. I’d have an orange juice and I might have a banana and then vegetables with my dinner, that would be it. I love broccoli and peppers but I’m not mad on cauliflower. I love my breakfast. It’s muesli every morning and a cup of tea.

Do you worry?

I suppose I do, but I work hard at trying not to worry. There is no point in getting anxious about something that might never happen. I would have been a worrier. I would have been very anxious down through the years and would have had negative thoughts. So I’ve worked very hard at retraining my brain into being positive and living in the moment.

What do you do to relax?

I love being with family, spending time with my kids, my brothers and sisters and my husband, or meeting my friends for meals. I love walking and I love coming in in the evening, sticking on telly and watching a bit of Coronation Street or whatever. What I really love to do is get away, get out of Dublin and go to Rathlin Island or to Donegal.

What’s your unhealthiest habit?

I just love chocolate. Cadbury’s chocolate, Whole Nut or Fruit Nut, there’s nothing like it with a cup of tea.


From September, The Rise Foundation has new programmes for the families of those with addictions. Frances Blacks new single Love Song is out in August.

In conversation with Joanne Hunt