Rutger Verhoeff

About Rutger Verhoeff

Rutger Verhoeff is originally a general practitioner, but in recent years he has emerged as a writer, columnist, vlogger, and medical expert on radio and TV. He has now written three books. His first book ‘What Do You Think, Doctor?’ shows how the contemporary, modern general practitioner operates. The cookbook ‘Lekker Beter’ – co-written with TV chef Ramon Beuk – is an attack on all diet gurus, but primarily an honest cookbook that teaches people what food really does in the body.

In ‘Don’t Let Yourself Be Ruined,’ Verhoeff describes – based on his own experiences and those of celebrities and unknown Dutch people – all possible consequences of bullying and the right treatment to fully recover.

He has been a regular columnist for AD and the medical magazine ‘De Dokter’ for years, as well as a vlogger for Libelle TV. He is frequently invited as a medical expert for the TV programs 5 Uur Live, Koffietijd, and for the radio stations FunX and 100% NL.

In 2004, Verhoeff graduated as a general practitioner from Radboud University in Nijmegen. He then worked in the Pediatrics department at Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem and in the Emergency Department at Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven. He completed his training as a general practitioner again in Nijmegen, finishing in 2010.

Verhoeff first became acquainted with the media in the youth program ‘Sun, Drinking, Hospital,’ where he provided medical advice to young people during their sun holidays and treated some of them in foreign clinics. After two seasons, he stopped this and then came up with several TV formats himself. His first was sold to Sanoma (Nu.nl): ‘Fact or Fiction.’ By writing a cookbook, he has emerged as an expert in the field of nutrition.

Verhoeff was frustrated by all the advice on social media and all the empty promises in diet books. In ‘Lekker Beter,’ he describes the effect of food on us, allowing us to make our own choices. No nonsense about superfoods, but the truth about all vitamins, E-numbers, slow and fast carbohydrates, and antioxidants.

During his high school years, Verhoeff was bullied for two years, culminating in a failed suicide attempt. A transfer to another school put an end to the bullying but marked the beginning of a life with all the consequences of bullying: performance anxiety, social phobia, stage fright, and depression.

He refused to accept this and sought the right treatment to live without complaints again. Countless therapy sessions with different therapists only resulted in one thing: immense frustration. He discovered that conventional treatment methods were insufficient to heal him, but he did not give up. He developed his own treatment – aided by his studies – and successfully applied it to himself.

In the book ‘Don’t Let Yourself Be Ruined,’ he discusses this and shows that there is more to it than just addressing the bully. ‘Everyone in a group has their own background and prejudices, and every participant in that group influences the atmosphere and safety.’

He is frequently invited as an expert in the field of bullying and for improving group dynamics. During lectures, he shares his own experiences and treatment and illustrates through numerous examples how a certain atmosphere in a group is established, with the extreme example of a group where bullying occurs. He provides tips on how to influence the group process and tips on how to better cope with setbacks.

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