The German Diet

[djgray1200]

So by now we all know that beer isn't a beverage it's food. I was wondering since beer is such an integral part of the German diet and of course lends massive carbs and calories, what is the rest of the makeup of German diet? What is the instance of of obesity in Germany? Maybe D could lend some insight

[J.Brew]

Lots of sausage, schnitzel, sauerkraut and potatoes.

[meisterofpuppets]

Obesity is much lower in Germany than in the US and even the UK. Germans are supposedly very health conscious and exercise a lot.

[Thumpasaurus]

I used to live with 5 guys from Germany and each one of them had horrible diets. Breakfast would be one piece of toast with butter and nutella. Lunch would be a "sandwich" with two pieces of white bread, one piece of packaged deli meat, and one slice of cheese. Dinner would be mac and cheese or something else that required no cooking skills. It was astonishing because when we went out to eat, they would eat crap and a lot of it - far more than most Americans I've seen. They were all tall and skinny, but one of them was in incredible good shape.

So I, too, am curious about the traditional German diet because I'm confident this cannot be it. Of course, these guys refused to drink any beer at all unless it was Warsteiner and if not that, they'd pick Icehouse (because they claimed all American beer was too weak).

[Husker267]

Having just returned yesterday from Munich, here's what I can say about Bavaria. The food consists of three major groups; pork, bread, and beer. For meat, pork far outweighs beef or chicken....fish is actually 2nd. Bread is usually in the form of pretzels as big as your head or a kaiser bun to make a leberkase (pork meatloaf) sandwich. And beer - primarily helles with the occasional dunkel, bocks etc are reserved for winter and/or lent. Vegetables are pretty much limited to cabbage and potatoes. Fruit is not very common as well, but available in the markets.
Obesity overall is much lower than what we see here in the states. And yes, I do agree that it is amazing. Even more amazing is that German's seem to be constantly snacking. Their one saving grace is the amount of walking they do. At least in Munich or the close suburbs, a car isn't really needed and is very expensive. Gas was running about 1.23 euro per liter for regular. So they take public transportation and walk a lot or ride a bike. One thing that I don't know is the heart disease rates in Germany.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

(because they claimed all American beer was too weak).

Or, in the words of Monty Python "like making love in a canoe. . . effing close to water." I may have paraphrased a bit.

[chrishw]

I think it isn't about what they eat but the volume. like was mentioned earlier- 2 slices of bread with one slice of meat for a lunch is closer to the norm.

Bavaria is not a good example of "Germany" as a whole. Many of them are shorter and chunky, not the "Aryan-Nordic" of Germany prior to 1870 when Bavaria joined into the German Empire.

So, the "German" diet is to eat what you want, only small amounts of it!

[bloberglawp]

It's alot of rich food and an active lifestyle...

I saw one obese fat load in the 15 days I was in Germany.... I saw plenty of regular fat loads as well, but not as many as in North-America.

Plus alot of people have a fair size lunch and a light supper... and there not drinking beer all day either, mostly during meals.