Jessica Lonis

After a winter and spring that seemed more like an never ending autumn, we suddenly had a  very UnDutch hot summer weekend in May. Yes, summer is at our door. And with summer comes that OMG feeling -on the hips… read more >

Here comes summer:After a winter and spring that seemed more like an never ending autumn, we suddenly had a  very UnDutch hot summer weekend in May. Yes, summer is at our door. And with summer comes that OMG feeling -on the hips and tums that is- Bikini? Shorts?  Reality dawns... Its time to shed the cover of our winter layers.. asap   It’s a fact that gyms are busiest in January (new year’s resolutions... which most people seem to forget about mid-February) and in May, when it all becomes painfully real, if it hadn’t done already thanks to the mirror and all those all the magazine headlines telling you to get that ‘ Beach-bod’ for the summer of 2016   But hang on… Beach-bod? For the few days of hot summer we have in The Netherlands? Are we really getting frantic about looking fit for these few days a year?  Yes, a lot of us Dutchies are. Here’s why:   You might have noticed a lot of us Dutch seem to have a weird sense of temperature: when the thermometer goes beyond 10 Celsius, some people are already walking in shorts and t-shirts. We yearn for physical freedom from our thick winter clothes so much that we just try to imagine that 12 degrees is warm enough. It’s also why we Dutch are somewhat specialized in dressing in layers: eventually the cold shivers will win from our imagination. So on goes the vest. And then off again. And then on. Maybe now a raincoat. And flip flops, why not?   Apart from that, most of The Netherlands virtually lies below water level. That’s why half our country has a coastline somewhere near. There are sandy coastlines, not rocky, like in the UK for example. With a good windshield and a lot of… read more >

With so much lycra around these days, stylish looking racing bikes, runners, power joggers and Organic supermarkets popping up like ‘paddenstoelen’ (toadstools) you’d think the whole country is on a health kick. Often enthusiasts prefer to talk the talk rather… read more >

GOING DUTCH the healthy wayWith so much lycra around these days, stylish looking racing bikes, runners, power joggers and Organic supermarkets popping up like ‘paddenstoelen’ (toadstools) you’d think the whole country is on a health kick. Often enthusiasts prefer to talk the talk rather than walk the walk. The colorful dri-fit Nike Lycra’s often end up in the closet after one outing, together the expensive, horribly color clashing running shoes (WHY do they make these things so ugly?). Okay so maybe they’re taken out every now and then for the run straight to the nearest Starbucks (nowadays even in The Netherlands that means a run within a mile) But here’s the thing, the locals you’re living among, The Dutch, are really different.  They’re not on a health kick. And they’re not just talking the talk, but actually running that run. They are not only the tallest in the world, but the Netherlands is also in the top ten of less obese countries In The World. We will draw a discreet veil who are in the top most obese. A recent survey in Great Britain showed that, ironically while cooking programmes increased and multiplied on TV with matching viewing figures, most viewers watched from the sofa, munching takeaways and readymade calorie-rich microwave concoctions. So why are the majority of Dutch so healthy? Don’t they have sofa’s or microwaves? Ah, we do. And have the same nuke-meals at Albert Heijn. We Dutch also like convenient fast food (which can be made in a healthy way: five minutes more in the kitchen, but a lot less time on the hips –I will tell you all about that soon). Actually, another interesting fact is that The Netherlands is also in the top 3 sugar consuming countries (after the US and Germany) and number 4 of the world’s biggest… read more >