Sonja Bakker
Sonja Bakker (born November 3, 1974 in Avenhorn ) is a Dutch dietician and author of non-fiction books on this complex.
Life
Sonja Bakker grew up as the daughter of an entrepreneurial family in Avenhorn ( province of North Holland ); her father is a flower grower. After graduating from business school, Sonja Bakker worked as an employee in the personnel department at a large trading company. Sonja Bakker was married to Koen Lenting until 2009. The two children Tristan and Finn emerged from the marriage. She has been married to Jan Reus since 2013, with whom she had their son Bram in 2012.
As Bakker states, she had tried many diets herself before she began her distance learning course to become a dietician in the evenings and on weekends alongside her work. This was followed by training in orthomolecular nutrition. According to her, this gave her more insight into nutrition and was able to develop her own diet method. She has been a qualified dietician since 1997 and founded her own practice in Volendam.
Life's work
During her pregnancy in 2002 and an associated extended hospital stay, she began to write her first book. In 2003 she sold her diet counseling practice so that she could concentrate fully on her new activities. Since no publisher in the Netherlands wanted to publish her book, she decided in 2004 to publish her first book herself. Her then husband Koen Lenting then founded the publishing house “De Zonnestraal”. This publisher has been publishing Sonja Bakker's books since then and is now owned by Sonja Bakker herself.
More than 900,000 copies of her first book, Bereik je ideal weight (“Reach your ideal weight”) have been sold. In this book, she describes a very simple method in which you can eat anything, do not need to count calories or points, and still lose weight because you consume relatively little food energy . This first book success was followed by a number of other diet guides.
In September 2006 Sonja Bakker made her television debut in the SBS6 program Je Echt leeftijd (“Your real age”). In this program she accompanied the candidates on their way to a healthy weight. This program was continued again in February 2007.
Sonja Bakker also wrote weekly columns for various Dutch newspapers, journals and magazines. She gave readings for doctors, hospital employees and also in companies. In these readings, she focused on the relationship between healthy eating and a common lack of motivation.
In December 2006, her third book, Bereik en behoud je ideal weight (reaching and maintaining your ideal weight) was published. This edition came about, according to Bakker, in response to requests from many readers who had lost weight with their first book but were looking for an incentive to maintain their weight. Around 600,000 copies of this book have now been sold.
In the Netherlands, people have not said "I'm on a diet" for years, but now use the verb "sonjabakkeren".
Reach your dream weight and Sonja's cookbook
In the German-speaking countries, the book "reach your dream weight!" Was published in 2007, Bakker's fourth and first German-language book, which is mainly based on her first and most successful published book ('Bereik je ideal weight'), and with topics and information from Bakker's third book ('Bereik en behoud je ideal weight') was added and adapted to the German market. In 2008 'Sonja's Cookbook' appeared, in which Sonja Bakker also describes her method, but this book contains many more recipes than the first German book, which focuses on the weekly menus for weight loss.
criticism
However, there are also critical voices related to Sonja Bakker's diet method. The Dutch Health Center (Voedingscentrum) confirms that you can temporarily reduce your weight with this method, but not for a long time. According to the health center, the method is too superficial to develop healthy eating habits that actually help you stay slim.
The tips in the book are limited to 'getting enough exercise' and 'three main meals a day'. The health center very much doubts whether this information is sufficient not to revert to the old eating habits.
Furthermore, the health center states that the book contains “ancient wisdom” that are no longer compatible with current scientific research, for example the statements that coffee removes fluids from the body, white wine causes cellulite or fruit cleanses the body. In addition, basic foods such as bread and cereals only play a secondary role in Sonja Bakker's book, which is not in accordance with the nutritional recommendations of the health center.
The psychologist Tatjana van Strien from Nijmegen has also criticized the Sonja Bakker diet. In her own book on the subject of losing weight with and without success, she describes the Sonja Bakker diet as a "crash diet" that can even cause permanent metabolic problems and nutritional disorders. According to Tatjana van Strien, the diet causes a kind of voluntary famine in the body, through which the body switches to the emergency program and uses the energy supplied to it extra sparingly.
Sonja Bakker's book also explicitly mentions certain brands of major food manufacturers that lead to their independence being seriously questioned. (1)
plagiarism
Sonja Bakker has been accused of plagiarism several times by her colleague Bea Pols, a diet consultant from Heerhugowaard / Noord-Holland. These are at least 20 sentences, some of which were copied verbatim from the book published by Bea Pols. In addition, there are recipes that have been copied directly from various Dutch supermarket magazines with minimal adjustments and copies from several other books by various authors, to name just a few examples. So far, however, there has not been a legal dispute. The controversial passages can no longer be found in the German editions.
Previous titles by Sonja Bakker
- 2005 – always ideal weight! ISBN 90-90-19224-7
- 2006 – Bereik je ideal weight for children en tieners! ISBN 90-78211-03-2
- 2006 – Bereik en behoud ideal weight! ISBN 90-78211-00-8
- 2007 - Zomerslank met Sonja! ISBN 978-90-78211-07-5
- 2007 – reach your dream weight! ISBN 978-90-78211-06-8
- 2008 – Gezond riveted with Sonja! ISBN 978-90-78211-11-2
- 2008-Sonja's cookbook ISBN 978-90-78211-16-7
- 2008 - Lekker in je vel met Sonja! in collaboration with the fashion chain Miss Etam
- 2009 - Publishing ever borders: with Sonja en Rik op culinaire safari, with co-author Rik Felderhof
- 2010 - De avonturenmama
- 2010 - Knutseldagboek
- 2011 - Puur jezelf: inzicht dagboek
- 2011 - Bereik ever ideal weight! Deel 2
- 2012 - Bereik je ideal weight voor het hele gezin! ISBN 978-90-78211-26-6
- 2013 - Ibiza, de hemel en de hel (novel)
- 2013 - Winterslank ISBN 978-90-78211-25-9
- 2013 - Bereik je ideal gewicht voor het hele gezin / Part 2 ISBN 978-90-78211-26-6
- 2014 - Bereik je ideal gewicht voor het hele gezin / Part 3 ISBN 978-90-78211-30-3
- 2015 - Bereik je ideal gewicht voor het hele gezin / Part 4 ISBN 978-90-78211-32-7
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sonja Bakker accused of plagiarism . In: De Telegraaf . September 19, 2006. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved on February 15, 2011.
- ↑ Dieetgoeroe Sonja Bakker accused of plagiaat de Volkskrant, September 19, 2006
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bakker, Sonja |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch dietician and non-fiction author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd November 1974 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Avenhorn |