Mindful Content: Undone by Cheeseburgers

Two weeks ago, I was lounging on the sofa in my underpants watching the final Premier League matches of the season and slurping a fizzy beverage (just for background information, wearing just my pants was justified as I live in the middle of the desert and was alone at the time). Feeling a bit peckish at half time, I pulled out a packet of processed burgers from the freezer, did a quick defrost in the microwave and proceeded to cook and assemble a large plateful of cheeseburger, which I duly smothered in a thick layer of mayonnaise and ketchup. By the time the second half began I was scoffing cheeseburgers stretched out on the sofa and hoping for some goals.

Instead of goals, I got a sharp pain in my chest and my blood pressure shot through the roof. I walked around my small room in circles a dozen times until I calmed down and normalised a little, and then drank some water, but all that night I lay in bed with the fear of an early demise creeping up on me.

The next morning, as I scraped the inch-thick layer of fat from my kitchen grill, I was so thoroughly disgusted with the image that I might have copped it in my underpants, alone and surrounded my half-eaten cheeseburgers in the middle of the desert, that I decided on some life changes there and then. Here are the changes I made two weeks ago and have more or less stuck to since:

1. No meat or processed foods for a month ... only fish and healthy stuff.

2. Do intermittent fastening on a 16:8 ratio and only eat two meals a day.

3. Swap my 8 cups of coffee a day to 2 max and herbal tea and water for the rest.

4. Collect all my various writing projects into a cohesive whole and get writing again.

5. Try a blog.

Thankfully, my blood pressure has now normalised, I'm on my way to achieving some goals through fear of an early demise and I have adopted some positive habits moving forward. So really, was I undone or saved by a plateful of cheeseburgers?

Have any events in your life caused you to pause for thought, take stock, and make changes?

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