Poor dark, cold January has become a time for rather miserably hiding away and cutting back on life’s excesses – almost like an entire month of hangover – following a lavish Christmas. But I find it hard to advocate the practice of such punishing abstinence.

This excessive detoxing seems too short-term and painful to me. What if your best friend’s birthday in January, or indeed your wedding anniversary? What if you get to February so fed up of your steak-for-dinner diet that you go on a three-day baguette-feeding frenzy? Or you celebrate your month of dryness with a whisky drinking night out on the town? Surely, anything so far removed from your normal life is almost doomed to failure, or, at best, only very fleeting success. Continue reading →