THIS month gyms will see a spike in membership and zumba classes will be jam packed.

People are getting rid of the booze - even journalists in this office as you will have read - and image changes are being scheduled in at hairdressers up and down the country.

January is all about change. Changing lifestyles, planning beach bodies and quitting the cigarettes.

Change is good. It's why we make such a fuss about all these New Year's resolutions, and it's why David Bowie wrote a song about it, a good one at that.

It's why we're currently off-loading the tons of chocolate we received for Christmas instead of sitting in a onesie 24 hours a day entering into a sugar coma.

Okay, we've maybe kept a little of the sweet things but they are strictly for after the gym. Or at least until after midday. Some people have even given up bread. I know, I don't know how they've got through a morning without toast. Crazy, eh?

It could even be the year of massive change for Scotland if we vote for independence come September.

But we are a habit-driven society and even when we try our hardest to make switches they don't stick.

Step up Beyonce and her husband Jay Z. The couple, who have been known to enjoy their meat feasts, decided to embark on a vegan diet last month.

They took part in a 22-day challenge to eliminate all animal products from their diet because psychologists say you can create or break a habit in 21 days.

It would be fair to say the pair hit a few hurdles on the way. For example, while dining out at a vegan restaurant in LA, Beyonce wore a jacket with a humongous fur collar. A few days later at another meat-free site she dressed, basically, as an entire cow - it was a cowhide top by Givenchy teamed with leather trousers.

To be clear, the one and only rule of veganism is that you don't consume anything that comes from an animal, including eggs, milk and Percy Pigs (there's gelatine in them unless you go for the veggie ones).

I'm pretty sure that applies to your shopping habits too, so leather, fur and snake skin are off the menu.

Bey and Jay's foray into the world of nut roasts and cabbage was short lived. They were dining on fish feasts the other day, shortly after their life-changing challenge ended.

To be fair they didn't promise to become vegans for life. Jay Z said on his blog: "I don't know what happens after Christmas.

"A semi-vegan, a full plant-based diet? Or just a spiritual and physical challenge? We'll see..."

But if Beyonce can't even manage to change a habit then what hope have us normal folk got? I say we flip the age-old advice on its head and instead of asking what would Beyonce do, we ask what would she not do?

Let's not follow her lead. Leave the fad diets at the door this new year, along with the dodgy cow costumes.