Weight Work

“Brace for impact” is the best way I can describe my business strategy over the past year. With many clients out of work, others expecting to soon be out of work and still others at work with little work to do, I had very modest expectations for the income generated at Foodtrainers. After all, if people were contemplating selling their apartments or beach houses, would they really want to book appointments with their nutritionist? You may be surprised by the answer. While some clients had to cut their visits from once per week to once every other week and we didn’t have the phone ringing off the hook with resoluters on January first something unexpected happened.

While clients were reshuffling their funds and analyzing their habits many realized they wanted to take better care of themselves. And others simply felt they had more time on their hands to work out or cook. And it is NYC so let’s face it some clients found a half hour of Foodtraining a less expensive release than seeing their shrinks. So to answer my own question, YES amidst a financial crisis unlike any other in recent years our Foodtrainers’ clients did want to come in for office visits.

I’ve been taking mental note of this and selfishly pleased that previous workaholics were becoming workout-aholics. And then I came across The New York Times business section “Financial Crisis One Year Later” (I am a little behind, it was in the September 13th paper). In a sort of post-game report, there is a recap entitled “Where the Players Landed” and updates on some of the most famous names on Wall Street. Some of the “players” have taken positions at different companies but E. Stanley O’Neal “puts a high priority on his workouts.” and Neel T. Kasjkari “spends his time reading, bicycling and trying to shed the 20 pounds he put on during the crisis. (He’s got 5 more to go).” And on and on there are examples of how, over the past year, with many things uncertain these high profile “players” and others chose to control perhaps what one thing they could…their wellness.

This phenomenon or trend is kind of interesting. Is it that people, stripped of some of lives luxuries, realize the importance of their health? Or, is health the ultimate luxury?

What impact has the events of the past year had on your health and wellness?