You cant change one behavior without changing anotherPublished inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min readJust now-- Its Wednesday, and were 2% of our way through 2025Issue #241: salt, Jimmy Carter, and the Golden GlobesOn Friday, I saw Heretic with a friend (Hugh Grant is perfectly cast, just likable enough to be an unexpectedly three-dimensional villain) and then we walked a few blocks to a nearby bar. I didnt think I was going to do Dry January, but earlier that day the U.S. Surgeon General had called for cigarette-box-style cancer warnings on alcoholic beverages. His office had published a report explaining that even if youre drinking at moderate or low levels (the classic glass of wine with dinner), alcohol increases your risk of seven types of cancer significantly.Im pretty risk-averse, so I got a mocktail.The first issue of this newsletter we ever sent focused on Dry January, which originated as a way for the Finnish government to save money during World War II. In that issue, we featured one writer, David Grover, who used this tradition as a way to jumpstart a virtuous cycle in his life. Cutting out beer gave him more energy, which spurred more change, like losing weight and cutting out sugar. Hence the principle of starting small with any big shift youd like to make.His experience underlines a core, magical truth: You cant change one behavior without unintentionally changing others. In one of my favorite Medium posts (ever?) Edith Zimmerman illustrates her first year sober in cross-hatched black-and-white line drawings and describes how her whole universe got brighter when she stopped drinking wine. She started knitting. She started waking up buoyant and happy. She realized wine may have just been a shortcut to relationships and behaviors she could have gotten in other ways that didnt make her feel bad:Image credit: Edith Zimmerman, My First Year SoberBut everyones different. Everyone has their own relationship to risk, their body, ethanol, the U.S. Surgeon General, and change. In one of the most-read stories of 2024, cultural anthropologist Karolina Kozmana says something most Dry January enthusiasts dont have the guts to say: not drinking also changes other peoples behavior, and (in Kozmanas experience) it can make socializing less pleasant when (a) people think youre judging them, or (b) you suspect they think youre judging them (even if youre not!). The social side effects of abstinence arent always good, Kozmana argues, even if the health benefits are clear.In other words, there are unintended side effects to every choice we make. May we all choose our side effects wisely this year. Harris Sockel Also worth readingThe FDA recommends the average adult consume less than 1 teaspoon of salt per day, but as Jacob Waalk discovered, research supporting that prescription is inconsistent at best. (Also, its a nearly impossible guideline to follow if youre an adult human who likes your food to taste like something.) Whats more important than sodium intake alone is the ratio of sodium to potassium; you run a risk of hypertension when you eat lots of salt without a proportionate amount of potassium. (Even thats an oversimplification. Read Waalks story for more nuance.)Billy Howard photographed the late U.S. President Jimmy Carter for 35 years. He remembers Carter as a man with an easy smile and a quiet gravitas. (Carter is also the only former U.S. President to win a Nobel Peace Prize, partially because he helped broker a treaty between Egypt and Israel.)Anora, a movie about a stripper who marries a Russian oligarch, was nominated for five Golden Globes and won zero. Jessicah Lahitou thinks she knows why: Not one moment in this entire film surprised or challenged, other than the insistence on returning to strip scenes and keeping Ani in various states of undress at almost all times. Your daily dose of practical wisdom: on decision-makingThe only bad decision you can make is one you didnt think through and cant explain. (Noa Ganot)