On any given Saturday night, nightlife impresarios and twins Derek and Daniel Koch can be found rubbing elbows with models and moguls at their Meatpacking District hot spot Toy.
But when the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, the 30-year-old brothers of downtown after-dark fame traded in their bottle of bubbly for a toast with Voss water.
It’s a tradition the twins began six years ago after a half-decade of partying and indulging. “It takes a toll — physically and mentally,” says Derek of the pitfalls that lurk behind the velvet rope.
And so the siblings typically dry out from Jan. 1 to their birthday on March 25 — for a much-needed break from their late-night, booze-soaked profession.
“It’s like 85 days of sobriety,” says Daniel, who recently had to break it to his new girlfriend that he’d be embarking on a dry spell of nearly three months. “But who’s counting?”
These creatures of the night are among a growing number of self-flagellating New Yorkers who treat — then beat — themselves post-holidays by temporarily giving up vices such as alcohol and sweets, sometimes replacing them with liquid diets (blue-green algae juice and garlic-oregano shots, among them).
According to Denise Mari, owner of Organic Avenue, the uber-popular NYC-based juicing mecca, business has doubled year over year since 2006, with an explosion in volume in 2012. And there’s always a spike in sales this time of year with those desperate to cleanse away their sins.
“People tend to go extreme — they need to be kicked in the ass,” says Danielle Pashko, a longtime NYC nutritionist who guides high-rollers from Citibank, J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch.
“It’s kind of like a bipolar attitude — splurging with mayhem and nonstop debauchery for weeks, and then total self-deprivation.”
The hard-charging industries that power NYC — fashion, finance and nightlife among them — are at the forefront of the New Year detox and pilgrimage to purity.
“These people are highly successful, competitive and stressed out. They’re cosmopolitan and social and mostly men,” says Pashko.
Drew Hunter, the 29-year-old founder of One PR, and his pal, celebrity stylist Lauren Rae Levy, recently embarked on an Organic Avenue juice cleanse together.
“With my crazy lifestyle, if I don’t cleanse, I’ll just feel sluggish,” says Hunter, who estimates spending more than $6,000 in pricey juice programs over the past five years — especially after back-to-back parties during Fashion Week, his busiest time of the year.
“Everyone does it in our business — it’s crazy,” says Hunter, who started his second-ever New Year cleanse yesterday — and converted his entire office of six people to the practice.
The friendly competition, he says, keeps everyone on track: “You never want them to catch you cheating.”
Nowhere is that competitive edge sharper than on Wall Street — and that extends to cleanses.
“People in finance tend to have a drive for success, and that drive translates to everything they do,” says Mari of Organic Avenue’s Wall Street clients, who comprise up to 20 percent of its growing customer base (four more locations will be added in the coming months for a total of 13 branches in the city).
John Cholish may look like any other ripped stud to an outsider: The smoking-hot energy options broker who boasts 6 percent body fat could intimidate most superheroes.
“I’ve always been competitive, and like to challenge myself,” says the 29-year-old from Long Island City who has detoxed regularly for more than a decade.
But he’s no match for his 110-pound feather of a girlfriend, Brianna Cole, 24. “My girlfriend and I will do a little competition, but she tends to beat me; I’m probably 0 for 4,” he admits sheepishly of their fasts — during which they give up sugar, caffeine, alcohol and simple carbs for a minimum of several days.
And New Yorkers in need of some new year penance say it’s easier to live the saintly life as part of a group.
The hard-partying staff of local blog Fashion Indie started a three-day BluePrint and Liquiteria cleanse on New Year’s Day to get a break from their high-pressure lifestyle.
“We’re out almost every night; it’s a very social company, ” says Daniel Saynt, 29, founder and creative director of the site. “Between dinners with clients and networking events, we’re usually out until midnight on most nights.”
And this being New York, subsisting on nothing but water and juice for three days comes with bragging rights, says Saynt: “I definitely feel there’s competition to it, but as long as no one brings in doughnuts and we’re all staying away from the kitchen, we’ll get through this.”
Hey, it ain’t easy being green.
Tips for going booze-free in the New Year
1) Drink a lot of water. “Buy a cool water bottle and carry it with you all the time,” says Derek Koch. And don’t forget to “refill it over and over.”
2) Find a partner to help do it with you. “Maybe a girlfriend or someone you work with,” advises Daniel Koch. “You don’t have to do it alone.”
3) Suggest meeting friends over activities such as “shopping, a yoga class or at the gym, instead of a bar or restaurant,” says nutritionist Danielle Pashko.
4) Get into a morning workout schedule. “If you usually exercise at night, start in the morning instead, and you will dread the idea of a hangover,” says Pashko.
5) Begin a diet, cleanse or program with alcohol-free guidelines. “Once you finish, you may feel so great that you don’t want to go backwards,” says Pashko.