Lessons from the Netherlands

This is the commuter parking at the Eindhoven Train station / Bus station... not a lot of cars... 

This is a parking garage next to Amsterdam's Centraal Train Station... hhmmm... 

I'm home.  It's good to be home.  Really really good.  My work trip was amazing.  I am fortunate enough to work with a group of 'like minded' people who honestly put the job and the end result ahead of anything else.  I learned a lot, laughed a lot and appreciated my co-workers for accepting me ... a lot !  I'm also fortunate to have a husband who understood me being gone for 15 days,  and treated me oh-so-well upon my return :) 

My first week,  I have to admit,  not so good at the working out :(  That being said,  I did walk  A TON and I didn't eat too incredibly poorly.    The second week,  I managed to get a total of 10 miles in in 3 treadmill runs.  So I'm happy with that.  I've revised my half marathon training program to a 6 week program starting tomorrow !!  

I had some interesting observations while I was there.  One, portion size.  The portion size for meals, in general, is much smaller than a portion size here in the US.  My Dutch co-workers laughed when we talked about McDonalds.  Their regular McDonalds meal, is about equivalent to our child's Happy Meals.  Also,  portion sizes aren't so large when you eat out that you take food home.  As a matter of fact,  taking home 'left overs' is not a Dutch thing at all... it's odd to them.  Mostly,  because portion sizes are smaller,  therefore there are no 'leftovers'.  When you go to the store, everything is fresh, and in smaller sizes... for example,  you can purchase just 4 slices of cheese, not the Costco 'brick' of cheese.  You can purchase just a half of loaf of bread,  not the entire huge loaf.  And I swear,  not in a single grocery store,  did I see a giant plastic gallon jug of milk. 

Another observation.. physical activity.  There are bikes EVERYWHERE.  And it doesn't matter the weather or the time of day,  people are riding bikes.  The cities have accommodated for this extremely well.  There are amazing bike 'roads' that are ONLY for bicycles and walkers.  The roads go everywhere.  They have their own stop lights, and road signs. People are riding their bikes in the rain, just cruising along. They do their shopping on their bikes,  they go out to dinner on their bikes,  they go to work on their bikes. Amazing.  And,  if you're not on your bike,  most are walking.  The shopping is mostly outdoors, and you need to walk around.  It's not conveniently covered in one giant mall with fast food places all over.  You have to walk to get what you need.  

And ... not to be sayin' anything derogatory... but not too many people on the heavier side.   

So.... here's my brilliant conclusion - we gotta move, whether it be walking, biking, taking the stairs instead of the elevator... and we gotta think about not just what we are eating,  but the size of what we are eating.