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Change your relationship with alcohol without shame, guilt, or going sober. Join science-based coach Molly Watts to break habits and find peace through mindful drinking.
Hosted by author and coach Molly Watts, this show is for daily habit drinkers, adult children of alcoholics, and anyone stuck in the “gray area” of alcohol use.
Each episode blends neuroscience, behavior change psychology, and real-world strategies to help you build peace with alcohol — past, present, and future.
You’re not broken. You’re not powerless. You just need new tools.
Less alcohol. More life. Let’s do it together.
New episodes every Monday & Thursday.
Becoming an alcohol minimalist means:
Choosing how to include alcohol in our lives following low-risk guidelines.
Freedom from anxiety around alcohol use.
Less alcohol without feeling deprived.
Using the power of our own brains to overcome our past patterns and choose peace.
The Alcohol Minimalist Podcast explores the science behind alcohol and analyzes physical and mental wellness to empower choice. You have the power to change your relationship with alcohol, you are not sick, broken and it's not your genes!
This show is intended for educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice. If you are physically dependent on alcohol, please seek medical help to reduce your drinking.
Welcome to the alcohol minimalist podcast. I'm your host, Molly Watts. If you want to change your drinking habits and create a peaceful relationship with alcohol, you're in the right place. This podcast explores the strategies I used to overcome a lifetime of family alcohol abuse, more than thirty years of anxiety and worry about my own drinking, and what felt like an unbreakable daily drinking habit. Becoming an alcohol minimalist means removing excess alcohol from your life so it doesn't remove you from life.
Molly:It means being able to take alcohol or leave it without feeling deprived. It means to live peacefully, being able to enjoy a glass of wine without feeling guilty and without needing to finish the bottle. With science on our side, we'll shatter your past patterns and eliminate your excuses. Changing your relationship with alcohol is possible. I'm here to help you do it.
Molly:Let's start now. Well, hello, and welcome or welcome back to the alcohol minimalist podcast. With me, your host, Molly Watts, coming to you from well, folks, I had to look up some some synonyms. We're gonna go with saturated. We're gonna go with be draggled.
Molly:We're going to go with awash. We're gonna go with like a drowned rat. We're gonna go with ringing wet. We're gonna go with marinated, sopped, slushy, semi it says semi liquid. No.
Molly:We're just gonna go liquid. Over moist. Fenny. What does Fenny mean? Do you get the idea?
Molly:Do you get the idea? It is just ridiculously rainy here in Oregon right now. And I, for one, this is my my hardest time of year. Hardest time weather wise, best time, or one of the times that I actually look forward to, which is something to be said for me looking forward to Dryuary. And that wasn't always the case.
Molly:I shared that with a group coaching call this last weekend. I can remember when I did my very first dry January back in 2021, my full thirty one days. This is my fifth. And that year, I was really apprehensive. And you can go back and listen over the years as I've I've shared different versions of Dryuary in 2022.
Molly:I actually had one glass of wine during the month, and I talked about how I almost let that ruin my my Dryuary experience by what I made it mean. And I want you to look at whatever you're doing. I want you to ask yourself questions, and I want you to decide that you really like your reasons for however you're approaching this dryuary, whether that's a dryish approach, whether that's a full 31, whether that's mostly alcohol free, whether that's just adding in more alcohol free days. However, you are doing it. I want you to like your reasons, and I want you to keep going back and evaluating those.
Molly:Okay? And asking yourself to keep questioning your reasons and commit to what you're doing and stay there. You know, January, Dryuary, it's a time to really reset habits for many people, whether it's about alcohol or anything else. And a lot of these are health oriented. Right?
Molly:Some of the benefits that you're gonna experience from taking a full 31 break from alcohol include things like clearer skin, better sleep, improved energy, and, of course, just that simple satisfaction of proving to yourself that you can do it. Right? And there's so there's a lot to love about taking a break from alcohol. I am going to dive in today to something else that we really need to talk about that extends beyond immediate benefit of taking breaks or reducing or minimizing alcohol. This week, The US surgeon general released an advisory on alcohol and cancer risk, and there were headlines all around it.
Molly:It's, really the biggest headline that came out of it was that the surgeon general is recommending an update to include verbiage on alcohol labels that says that alcohol creates a known increased risk for cancer. Specifically, I'll tell you exactly what the language says here as we get into the episode. But I really wanted to dive into this advisory. I think it's a wake up call for anyone who drinks alcohol for sure. And, also, I wanna make sure that the science that you're hearing about, we're not just hearing the headline and freaking out and making decisions based on a headline.
Molly:I want you to actually hear what that advisory said and the science that is behind it. And PS, I am going to include in the show notes the full PDF of the US Surgeons General Advisory, which includes links to the science that they were reviewing and the science that they were sharing. So let's dive in, shall we? We're gonna talk first about and I'm gonna go over, kind of a synopsis of what the advisory said and why that is significant. We're gonna talk through key concepts like absolute risk versus relative risk and especially how those apply to alcohol related cancers.
Molly:We're gonna focus on specific risk, like breast cancer and the seven cancers that were outlined in The US Surgeon General's advisory. And finally, I'm gonna talk about what this means for you, us as individuals, and what it means as an alcohol minimalist. Actually, before we get there, I wanna do say one more thing about Dryuary. Okay? Taking a break from alcohol even for just a month offers powerful insights into how alcohol fits into your life.
Molly:This month long break, lots of times, people report better focus, less anxiety, improved gut health, and even weight loss. Dryuari also gives you a chance to think about your habits without judgment, and it's the perfect time to examine not just how much you drink, but why you drink. And that's really the gift of dryuary. And with this week's news from the surgeon general, it's also a really good time to take a pause and educate ourselves on the real science and on alcohol's long term impact. So this week's advisory isn't just another public health announcement.
Molly:It was a significant statement about alcohol's role in cancer. And here is a quick summary of its key points. What it said, number one, alcohol is a leading preventable cause of cancer in The United States. It contributes to nearly one hundred thousand cancer cases and about twenty thousand deaths annually. For context, that is more than the number of alcohol related traffic fatalities each year.
Molly:There were seven specific types of cancer that were causally linked to alcohol. Now I'm gonna say something about that causal. They have determined that because of the preponderance of associative evidence, because there is so much significant associative evidence, they believe many of the leading cancer research agencies have then said that because there is so much associative evidence, they are comfortable saying that it is causative. Alright? Of course, we cannot do double blind, placebo controlled studies in humans over long term with alcohol because it's not practical.
Molly:It's not you can't consume just alcohol by itself. You have to consume food. You have to do other things. And so there is no way to isolate alcohol in humans, but they've been able to do that in mice, which is exactly what they've done. They can isolate in a a mouse.
Molly:They can directly into the organ. They can, with a syringe, put in water and ethanol, which is the chemical compound in alcohol. And when they do that, tumors grow. So that is why they that's the causative science that is there is that they are able to show causation. And in humans, it's not quite as clear because they like I said, we can't do causation, but there is so much associative data now that the leading organizations that that research cancer feel comfortable saying that they believe that there's a causative risk.
Molly:Alright? So a little bit confusing with that, but I hope that that helps clarify it for you in some way. And, again, specifically, there are seven types of cancer that we're gonna talk about. And for women, that includes breast cancer, and for everybody, that includes colorectal, esophagus, liver, mouth, throat, and larynx. And, again, these are decades of lots of research that show an associative link and an increased risk in cancer.
Molly:And even small amounts of alcohol can increase these risks for certain cancers, especially like breast cancer for women and mouth cancers, for for everyone. And those risks start with as little as one drink per day, especially for for mouth cancers, for larynx cancer, for esophageal cancer, and, yes, for breast cancer for women. And I'm gonna talk about that because I want you to understand the relative risk versus absolute risk, and we're gonna get there in a minute. Hey there. It's Molly taking a quick break to talk with you about Sunnyside.
Molly:You all know that Sunnyside is my app of choice and my recommendation for a tool to help you create sustainable change around your drinking. One of the things that I love about Sunnyside is their commitment to improving the user experience, and that has been a constant since I started working with them nearly three years ago now. Since June, they have added the Android version of their iOS app. So now it's available for Apple users and all Android users. It's the same Sunnyside experience across all of those devices, and it's just another example of their commitment to improving the user experience.
Molly:Another example would be the fact that now you can set it up for push notifications. So you can take all of the daily texts, the reminders, and put them into a push preference so that you determine how you want to receive the support from Sunnyside. I would love for you to check it out. Go to www.sunnyside.co/molly to get started with a fifteen day free trial today. So alcohol's carcinogenic effects are well understood.
Molly:Ethanol, the type of alcohol that is in beverages, breaks down into acetaldehyde, and that is a toxic cancer causing substance in our bodies. And alcohol also damages DNA. It increases inflammation, and it can alter hormone levels, all of which are also believed to likely contribute to cancer risk. As I said, the advisory calls for new health warning labels on alcohol products that are similar to those that are on tobacco. And this is really done to improve public awareness because despite very clear evidence, less than half of Americans know about the link between alcohol and cancer.
Molly:Forty five percent. That was what was said in The US Surgeon General's Advisory. And that's why discussions like this are so important. Now I wanna talk about risk. Alright?
Molly:I talk about low risk levels here on the Alcohol Minimalist Podcast. And to clarify, I've said this before, but I will say it again. The low risk levels that I talk about are not related to cancer risk. They are not related to health. They are rate related to developing alcohol use disorder.
Molly:The recommended drinks limits that I talk about are the drink limits provided by the NIAAA, and they are specific to developing alcohol use disorder. When we talk about risk for health benefits. There's an episode that I'm gonna link in this podcast where Monica Rinegle and I talked about the global health risk assessment and that risk of all time morbidity and what they showed, the j curve that they talked about for alcohol use and how actually the lowest risk for overall lifetime morbidity was for people who drink a low to moderate amount of alcohol, not even the nondrinkers, but absolute versus relative risk. This is super important to understand and especially to to be able to read this advisory without feeling overwhelmed. Alright?
Molly:And I really want you to hear me on this. Relative risk compares one group to another. For example, if drinking one glass of wine daily increases the relative risk of mouth cancer by forty percent, That sounds scary. If I tell you that one glass of wine daily increases the risk of mouth cancer by forty percent, maybe you're you're worried. However, absolute risk tells us the actual numbers.
Molly:In your lifetime, the risk of mouth cancer is one in one thousand. Okay? One in one thousand. A forty percent increase means that it rises to one point four in one thousand. So now do you understand?
Molly:They are talking about relative risk when they talk about an increased risk, but they're not really sharing the data on absolute risk. Because the absolute risk for for mouth cancer, for larynx cancer, for esophageal cancer, these risks are relatively low, low, low in your lifetime. So raising it by forty percent is not very much still. Right? 1.4 to one point o.
Molly:Relative risk is helpful for research, but absolute risks gives us the practical context that we need to make informed decisions. It's about balancing numbers with your personal comfort level around risk, and that's what I always talk about. And I really want you to understand that because it's important. I am never going to tell anybody that they should include alcohol in their life. There's a lot of reasons beyond cancer that minimizing alcohol or eliminating it completely from your life is your very best option.
Molly:However, if you are going to include it, let's include it in a way that minimizes our risk for both developing alcohol use disorder and for any of these health known health risks that we have from alcohol, of which cancer is only one. Okay? Cancer is only I mean, all these different types of cancer, but cancer is a known health risk, but so is cardiovascular disease, so is potentially dementia. There are a lot of things that alcohol and it is dose dependent, my friends. Alcohol is always dose dependent.
Molly:The more you drink, the higher your risks go. I wanna talk first for for before we get into something else, I really wanna talk about some of these specific cancers. Alright? Breast cancer, most importantly. Breast cancer is the most common alcohol related cancer in women, and one daily drink increases the relative risk by ten percent.
Molly:Here's the absolute risk. Alright? For the average woman, the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is about thirteen percent. With that ten percent increase, the risk becomes fourteen point three percent. Now I wanna remind you, this is at one daily drink per day.
Molly:Alright? The other problem with with alcohol research is that it is typically based on people's reporting. And we know that people don't report accurately nor do they report truthfully a lot of the times. So accurately, meaning that they think they're only drinking one drink, but then they realize that, you know, the alcohol by volume is actually higher, and they're actually consuming two. And truthfully, because they say they only drink one drink per day, but they kind of forget about the fact that on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, they might have three.
Molly:These are the things that also make it challenging to deliver good science around alcohol. For mouth cancer, drinking one daily drink raises the relative risk by forty percent. Like we said, in absolute terms, that increases the risk roughly from one in one thousand to one point four. These numbers really highlight an important truth. Small increases in relative risk can still represent manageable absolute risk, and the key is understanding both perspectives.
Molly:I'm gonna read for you a section from the advisory that I think is super important, and I want you to hear me on it. And this is one of these things that we always have to weigh, right, and understand. This is what it says. Importantly, the risks presented above are average risks based on the studied populations. An individual's risk for developing cancer, including alcohol related cancers, varies and is determined by a complex interaction of biological factors and environmental factors.
Molly:For example, many individuals of East Asian descent have a genetic variant that results in an alcohol flushing response and reduces their ability to metabolize acetaldehyde, which produces much higher risks for certain alcohol related cancers. In addition, an individual's alcohol consumption level and associated cancer risk may be influenced by social and economic factors, including social norms, peer pressure, advertising, and other commercial activities. Individuals may also have different comfort levels, risk tolerances, when it comes to taking different types of risks, including alcohol consumption. So there, The US surgeon general basically says that everything that we're sharing is really a personal decision. It's a personal choice, and there are personal influences.
Molly:There are individual influences. We've talked about it here on the podcast. These are confounders. That's what basically The US surgeon general is saying in that last paragraph is there are known confounders, which make the science around alcohol unclear. And so no one can tell you that your alcohol use is going to necessarily cause cancer nor can you say that if you don't drink alcohol that you will not get cancer.
Molly:And that's gotta be crystal clear to you. Right? There are lots of other lifestyle factors that go into our increased risk, and that's kind of what that that the surgeon general is saying right there. That does not mean that you should start drinking alcohol to you know, if you're not already drinking it, and it does mean still that the increased risk for alcohol is real, and the more you drink, the more at risk you are. Alright.
Molly:Let's go back into this conversation a little bit more and talk about some of the ways that as an alcohol minimalist, we can create peace and what we can do with this information. First of all, whether you're doing dry January or not, you wanna evaluate your habits. How much do you drink and why? Are there opportunities to cut back? If you are a daily habit drinker, I really want to encourage you to start adding in some alcohol free days.
Molly:You don't need to drink every night. It's not helping. It is not helping you with stress mitigation. It is not helping you with sleep. Trust me.
Molly:You can change your relationship with alcohol on a daily basis and overall, and doing it will help you improve in all of those areas without alcohol. Practice harm reduction. Even if you are not if you're not ruling or not going there yet with your daily habit, try skipping one drink. Alternate with a nonalcoholic option. Embrace things like dry January as a reset.
Molly:Tell yourself or, like I said, as a chance to prioritize and increase some alcohol free days. This part is super important. Stay informed. Knowledge is power. Understanding your unique risk factors can help you make decisions that align with your values.
Molly:Remember, it's not about fear. It's about empowerment. You hold the keys to your own personal relationship with alcohol, to your transformation, to your life. And the surgeon general doesn't. Right?
Molly:They can make advisories, and we all can take that information and decide and use it to guide our decisions. And that's really what being an alcohol minimalist is all about. In the, Facebook group recently, I shared, this just this last week, the characteristics of an alcohol minimalist, and it is that we use science to guide our our decisions, but we don't use science. We don't just read the headlines. K?
Molly:We dive into the science so that we understand when the surgeon general says it's going to increase the risk of cancer. We know exactly which cancers, and we know the absolute risk versus the relative risk. And that, again, that surgeon general's advisory, the full PDF is in the show notes here of this episode. I wanna thank you for joining me today on the Alcohol Minimalist Podcast. I know that the surgeon general's advisory is what what it should be a helpful, a powerful reminder in my opinion is learning and education and why staying mindful when you're going to include alcohol in your life is so very important.
Molly:You don't have to be perfect to make meaningful progress, folks, so keep going. If this episode resonated with you, I would love for you to share it with a friend. Leave a positive review, and as always, choose peace. I'll see you on think Thursday. Hey.
Molly:Thanks for listening to the alcohol minimalist podcast. Take something you learned from this week's episode and put it into action. Changing your drinking habits and creating a peaceful relationship with alcohol is 100% possible. You can stop worrying, stop feeling guilty about overdrinking, and become someone who desires alcohol less. I work with people in three ways.
Molly:You can learn about them over at www.mollywatts.com slash work with me, Or better yet, reach out to me directly. It's molly@mollywatts.com. We'll jump on a call and discuss what's best for you. This podcast is really just the beginning of our conversation. Let's keep it going.