This is why it is so difficult to stay in shape when you work at Virgin Radio.

We get free food whenever somebody wants to promote something. Combine that with birthday cakes, business lunches and work events at night and you can get very fat very quickly if you don’t have any self control.

I arrived to a wall of Krispy Kreme boxes in the studio this morning and three were quickly snaffled for our floor.

My theory is that you have to eat two so they cancel each other out.

A friend in Sydney told me about this SMH piece on Oliver James’ new book Affluenza.

It is described as a culmination of research, interviews and an eight-country “mind tour”.

The countries – the United States, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Singapore and China, as well as Britain – are all at various stages of contracting the affluenza virus.

In almost all of James’s case studies there is material wealth, but a terrible sadness at their core.

This sadness, says James, is living in a society where you feel valued for your possessions, status, house and looks.

The accumulation and maintenance of these things keeps you on a treadmill that leeches life of real meaning.

His tips for avoiding affluenza are:

• Be authentic (not sincere)
• Vivacious (not hyperactive)
• Playful (not game playing)