For Hilary Sheinbaum, a New Year’s Eve bet ended up changing the trajectory of her career. As a freelance reporter in New York City, Sheinbaum’s afternoons were primarily spent writing about food and beverage, while her evenings involved red carpet interviews with everyone from Brad Pitt to the Kardashians, followed by after-parties where alcohol was always in abundance. But at the end of 2016, Sheinbaum met up with a friend for dinner, where he introduced her to the concept of Dry January, a month-long challenge of abstaining from alcohol. “I thought it was ridiculous because my job was so focused on going out, and in New York, everything is centered around booze,” recalls Sheinbaum of her initial reaction. Still, a bet was proposed, rules were set out (the loser had to take the winner to the restaurant of their choosing), and Sheinbaum ended up scoring even more than a dinner at Momofuku Ko.

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“I experienced all of these amazing benefits and truly realized what it was like to sleep better,” she says of the most significant impact cutting out alcohol had on her life. “I went from sleeping four to five hours a night to sleeping seven to eight hours. My mood was better, my interactions with people were better and my diet changed because I wasn’t craving bad-for-you foods.” Though not fully sober, Sheinbaum has completed a Dry January every year since 2017, with a number of dry months in between. She also scored a........

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