New Year’s Resolutions

Christmas is brilliantly timed. The Roman Catholic Church did an awesome job of turning Saturnalia and other festivals into a promise that there is light at the end of the darkest days of the year.

The days at the end of December are the shortest. The light is thin and unreliable. We’re tired, running on fumes, short tempered, running the risk of flu, etc. Into that moment comes warmth, ritual, sweetness, shared food, candles, spice, and Craft Chocolate. Not by accident. By centuries of collective trial and error – and lots of great stories (see here).

January, on the other hand, is less forgiving. It’s colder than December (especially this year!). And we’ve had the fun of Christmas. The tree is gone. The bank account looks annoyed. It’s still dark when we wake up and when we go home.

At the same time there is increasingly a culture that January, because it’s the start of the year, should be about new resolutions, abstinences and “turning over a new leaf”.

Dry January.
Veganuary.
Cold plunges at dawn (or, depending on the tides and ice, a bit later in the day – see my Instagram for a few photos).
Trips to the gym.
Daily flossing.
Losing weight and / by cutting out (select as required) – sugar, carbohydrates, toast, marmalade, coffee, etc.
Learning a new language.

Unlike Christmas, the timing of these new year’s resolutions doesn’t seem quite as apposite.

It’s not that these ideas are wrong. Many are great. Overdrinking is (very rarely) a good idea .. and some time off is almost always a good idea. Eating more plants has clear environmental and health benefits (although overdoing this, as the Giant Panda evidences, may have some problems – see here https://cocoarunners.com/blog/lessons-for-veganuary-from-the-giant-panda/). Outdoor swimming is awesome exercise and wonderfully social. And in general pausing, recalibrating, noticing how habits feel – all are GREAT ideas.

It’s more whether January is the best time for turning over a new leaf.

The Romans had a different approach to the new year. Their year originally began in March, when light returns and change feels possible. The names of the months still give the game away: September, October, November, December – seven, eight, nine, ten – are relics of a calendar that wasn’t astronomically sound (originally around 304 days across 10 months, later revised to 355 days, before the much later Julian reforms brought us closer to today’s 365 with leap years). And March is perhaps a gentler time for kicking off the New Year, especially if you are making New Year Resolutions.

So this email / blog is in two halves. The first half is an attempt to reassure those of us who haven’t made any new years resolutions. The second half is an attempt for those of you with new years resolutions (respect and congratulations!) to suggest how Craft Chocolate can help.

Reassurance for those without new year’s resolutions (yet)

It can feel vaguely heretical to question January resolutions. It’s almost like being a Grinch at Christmas. But is January really the moment to stress-test your willpower with multiple new habits and sweeping abstinences?

Stripping away pleasure all at once often backfires. Ditto starting a new unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, practice. Especially when it’s cold and still pretty dark most of the time.

Sudden abstinence can overstress the system. It doesn’t automatically train attention and new habits. It doesn’t automatically give you the tools and approach to help you eat or drink better next month, or for the rest of the year.

Instead it may be better to treat January as a means to explore calibration. A square or two of craft chocolate – savoured slowly, with attention – is always a good thing to do. It’s a practice. A pause. A reminder that flavour exists for a reason. It’s a sign not only of great beans, farming and crafting, but also of a healthy treat that’s helping farmers, the planet and your family.

The same applies to hot chocolate. Not the sugary stuff, but a simple nightly ritual: cocoa, heat, time. Something warming at the coldest hour. A habit that ends the day well, rather than trying to fix everything at once.

It’s still cold, dark and – at the least in the UK this week – pretty wet. So don’t be too hard on yourself. According to YouGov less than 20% of British adults planned to make a New Year’s resolution for 2026 (interestingly this rises to 37% of 18-24s, but falls to 11% for those over 65).
So take it easy. Have some craft chocolate with a friend!

For those with new year’s resolutions

Firstly, well done – respect and salute.

Secondly, whatever you “giving” or “taking” up, consider supplementing this with some craft chocolate to make the habit more fun, pleasurable and sticky.

• Dry January: Explore how craft chocolate delivers the same flavour complexity, length, and sense of progression as wine, beer, cider whisky, gin – or whatever your tipple of choice. It keeps your palate alert – and hopefully opens up new experiences too.
• Veganuary: Go to the dark side. Proper dark craft chocolate is naturally vegan and deeply satisfying. Many supermarket “dark” bars aren’t Veganuary-friendly at all (buttermilk and other milk based bulking agents sneak in more often than you’d think), so choose carefully.
• Trips to the gym: Reward yourself! A square of dark chocolate as a prize for after completing a circuit, making it to 10 pull ups, etc.
• Daily flossing: Floss as promised, with fluoride toothpaste very much included. Then add a small amount of high-percentage dark chocolate: compounds such as theobromine have been shown to support enamel strength and help inhibit plaque formation, in some studies complementing – and in specific mechanisms even rivaling – fluoride’s protective role. See here.
• Losing weight / cutting things out: Whether you’re reducing sugar, marmalade, coffee, etc. be wary about replacing pleasure with abstinence. Instead, for example, try 100% chocolate, borrow the French habit of goûter, swap marmalade for a homemade pain au chocolat, or move to drinking chocolate – which works perfectly well when made with water.
• Learning a new language: We stock bars from over 50 countries. Use the packaging, maker videos, and tasting notes as low-stakes immersion. Vocabulary sticks better when it tastes good.
• Cold plunges at dawn: If you insist on starting in January (October is FAR safer, and saner, to start when it’s above 10 degrees), follow it with hot chocolate and a square of dark chocolate. Warmth, calories, and morale – restored quickly and civilised. And remember to share!

In short:

Christmas arrives exactly when we need it — at the darkest point of the year — and craft chocolate belongs naturally in that moment of warmth, ritual and shared pleasure.

January, colder and harder, does not need to be overloaded with abstinence and self-denial. The Romans may have had a good idea in starting the year in March.

This is NOT an argument that you can’t turn over a new leaf .. indeed next week we’ll explore some of the behavioural science and insights around “habits”.

And in the meantime, here are some final quotes to ponder:

“Diets are the leading cause of weight gain.” Traci Mann (Health psychologist, University of Minnesota), From Secrets from the Eating Lab (2015)

“Cultures that emphasise enjoyment and quality rather than restriction tend to have healthier relationships with food.” Paul Rozin (Psychologist of eating, University of Pennsylvania)

“Sustainable dietary change comes from understanding habits and cues, not from short-term restriction.” NHS & NICE guidelines

Thanks as ever for your support