Going out and drinking less? Eat first and tell someone

On NPR's Life Kit (December 2025), host Marielle Segarra asked Casey Davidson, a coach who stopped drinking and now hosts the Hello Someday podcast, what to do when you have to go somewhere a lot of people will be drinking. Her first answer in that conversation was about food: eat something, ideally with protein, before you go.

"Hunger is a huge trigger to drink."

Casey Davidson, NPR Life Kit, 2025

Her three moves

Davidson's advice was for people taking a break, but each move works just as well if your goal is fewer drinks.

First, eat before you leave. For her, hunger makes a drink harder to turn down.

Second, tell someone in advance. She suggests keeping it light, in the middle of a friendly message: looking forward to it, and by the way, I'm not drinking. If you're cutting down, the same message can carry your number instead.

Third, don't volunteer to drive just because you aren't drinking. People will happily take you up on it, she says, and then you're stuck until the end with a group that keeps going. Knowing you can leave when you want is part of the plan.

These are her practices from experience, not tested methods.

What the research adds

No study in our sources tested hunger as a trigger, so take that part as her experience. The nights themselves have been measured. In British drinking diaries covering 43,089 occasions in 2019, big nights out that started with drinks at home averaged 17.7 UK units, the most of any type of occasion (Holmes et al, 2024).

Planning helps, within limits. A review of 16 studies found that if-then plans ("if I'm offered a drink, then I'll ask for a soft one") cut weekly drinking a little. In the same review they made no difference to heavy sessions, and the effect faded over time (Cooke et al, 2023). That's one reason to change the setup of the night, with food, a person who knows and a way home, and not rely on a good intention alone.

If your body may have got used to alcohol, stopping or cutting down quickly can make you unwell, sometimes seriously. Don't stop suddenly: talk to a doctor or a local alcohol service first.

How this fits the Reduce your drinking program

In the 1h Protocol to Reduce Your Drinking, nights like this belong to the Social Pull, where company sets the pace and you start by deciding your first drink. Chapter 4 has you write and rehearse your first-drink line, then plan the occasions you can already see coming, and Davidson's eat-first advice appears where the program plans a big night. The first chapter is free.

Source: NPR Life Kit, Want to take a break from alcohol? Here's where to start, with Casey Davidson, 25 Dec 2025 Research: Holmes et al, 2024 · Cooke et al, 2023