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Unconscious Eating. West Germany's government is doing its level best to teach them, for the incidence of arteriosclerosis and other fat-linked ailments is increasing relentlessly. The Society for Nourishment sends 50 lady dieticians around the country giving weight-reducing lectures, and has launched a counter-paunch ing offensive aimed at leavening factory meals. The average West German calorie intake is actually below U.S. and British levels, but such statistics do not account for beer, which pours down Teutonic throats at the annual rate of 432 glasses (100 calories per glass) for each man, woman and child. Besides, the average German consumes more starches and other lipogenic substances: 260 Ibs. of potatoes, 155 Ibs. of bread and 47 chocolate bars each year. German palates are not easily weaned away from such belt-straining delicacies as roast goose (500 calories for a good-sized helping) or Kartoffelklösse (more than 100 each), their famed potato dumplings. Throughout the country, women hold their midmorning Kaffeeklatsch at pastry shops that are as rich in calorific temptation as the witch's cottage in Hansel and Gretel.
TV has also helped bring the country to polysaturation point by encouraging what doctors call "unconscious eating." To get through a poker hand with Maverick, Germans consume vast quantities of pretzels and pastries, and fill the gaps between snacks with Erfrischungsbonbons, refreshment candies. And they are increasingly reluctant to take exercise. Asks a garment industry official: "Who walks nowadays any more?"
Top Pots. If the automobile is a status symbol in Germany, so is the paunch. Like Julius Caesar ("Let me have men about me that are fat"), German voters consider that sheer heft makes a politician more trustworthy. While Konrad Adenauer has remained reasonably trim, many other politicians have visibly gone to pot. Bundestag Leader Heinrich von Brentano was a skinny 150-pounder when he was first elected in 1949, now weighs around 210. Former War Minister Franz Josef Strauss weighs about 270 Ibs. Many top officers, notably Bundeswehr Inspector General Friedrich Foertsch, also sport unmartial potbellies.
Undisputed champion is Adenauer's chosen successor, stocky (5 ft. 10 in.) Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard, who weighs about 220 Ibs., but has soared far higher on occasion. Whenever a crisis threatens, such as the metalworkers' strike last May, Germans cry: "Let the fat man handle it." After settling the strike, Erhard drew roars of approval with the modest brag: "I threw my whole weight into it."
Some observers consider waistline inflation to be merely "a cultural lag" that will be corrected as Germans accept the idea that good times are there to stay. Others, including Sociologist René König, contend that German corpulence is a symptom of subconscious anxiety and guilt. If only for that reason, there seems little likelihood that Germans will ever again want lean and hungry leaders. "A thin Erhard?" asks König. "Never. Why, people wouldn't believe in West Germany's prosperity."