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“How do they stay so thin?” I asked my husband for the 100th time as we walked down a main street in Amsterdam. Everyone was eating. There were hot French fries dipped in globs of mayonnaise, croissants filled with cheese, ham or both, and large squares of thick Belgian waffles coated with a half an inch of chocolate frosting. But the eaters were thin, not just normal weight.
The answer came a day later when we went out for a working lunch with a group of scientists with whom we were doing some research. In the States, a working lunch often consists of large sandwiches stuffed with cheese, turkey, ham or roast beef, and chips, cookies or some other dessert. If there is time, a full hot meal is eaten. In contrast, we each received a small whole-grain roll filled with lots of salad and perhaps a slice or two of very thin cheese or roast beef. That was it. On the plus side it could be consumed very quickly so we could get back to our discussion. For a typical American eater, it had the negative side of leaving one slightly hungry.
Dinner was equally frugal. Portion sizes were tiny. Fish, chicken or beef came in 4-ounce portions rather than the 8-ounce or larger portions we Americans have come to expect. The breadbasket was also small and except for an Italian restaurant, no butter or oil was served with the bread. Only the ubiquitous fast-food restaurants served portions typical of an American meal. But of course they were American fast-food chains.
But the other reason the Dutch can indulge in an occasional bag of French fries or a waffle is that their typical mode of transportation is the bicycle. The streets are divided into three lanes, one for cars, one for bikes, and one for pedestrians. The widest lanes seem to be for the bikes. Various Dutch friends informed us that you had to ride your bike to school regardless of weather and distance. Otherwise you just didn’t get there. “I rode my bike everyday,” a Dutch scientist told us. “It did not matter if it was windy, raining, foggy, cold or even snowing. The school was about 5 miles from where I lived. There were no school buses and my parents did not have a car.” He went on to tell us that he did not get a driver’s license until he was 35 because he depended on his bike to go everywhere.
The hundreds of bikes parked in large lots near every commuter rail station, office building, school, or shopping area supported his experience. And the bikes were not the high-tech types used in America to go long distances. They were all heavy and old and without gears. Many of them had foot, rather than hand, brakes. Some had large wooden crates with a wheel on the bottom to hold packages or, as we saw one day, two children and a dog.
This combination of small meals and unavoidable daily exercise is the answer to why the country as a whole looked thin, despite their intake of high-calorie snack foods.
Now for a personal confession. I am not a big fan of French fries, with or without mayonnaise. But those waffles called to me, especially at my 4 pm carbohydrate craving time. So one day when we had skipped lunch because we were on a very late train, we stopped at a bakery specializing in those Dutch treats. The waffle tasted even better than it looked. Fortunately we left the country the next day; otherwise I am not sure I would have been able to resist eating this snack on a daily basis. And there was no way I could bike home.
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International Fitness Expert, author of Sexy in 6, creator/star of over 15 exercise DVD's, Tracey Mallett has become a fitness icon to millions of moms and working women across the world. After her first pregnancy, a 55 pound weight gain she placed her career on hold with a complete lack of confidence. Tracey knows first hand that it's easy to lose sight of one’s identity and self-confidence with life’s daily stresses, and what it takes to get back into shape. She has made it her mission to help and motivate women to find their path to weight loss success with quick, simple, practical healthy solutions and sound nutrition.
A pioneer in the fitness industry, who has helped millions to get fit, Gilad Janklowicz, continues to inspire and lead, with his consistent message, “keep it simple”. 
Calorie Bargain: Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World (St. Martin's Griffin, 2008) by 
Calorie Bargain: Keep the Beat: Heart Healthy Recipes from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
