THERE is a particular kind of noise that arrives every January. It hums through our phones and inboxes just as the Christmas decorations come down.

Suddenly, everyone is selling transformation. Fitness plans promise a “new you”. Supplements claim to reset, detox, burn. Before the year has properly begun, we are being told – explicitly or otherwise – that who we were a week ago is no longer good enough.

This surge is not accidental. It lands at precisely the moment when most people are tired, over-full, financially stretched and emotionally wrung out. After weeks of socialising and disrupted routines, the idea of regaining control is understandably appealing.

The marketing knows this. It feeds on vulnerability, reframing perfectly ordinary responses to the festive period as problems to be fixed.

Eating Out: Capparelli at the Mill - a classy Mediterranean spot in Belfast

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