when you next go round the supermarket, count how many aisles are devoted to crisps, biscuits, packet cakes, sweets and fizzy drinks. We have got used to seeing all this, but you only have to go out of Scotland to see things differently.

Our shops pander to our sweet tooth, and put in many more aisles of snack foods than, say, in London. And there is even less of this stuff in France.

The French don't snack. They eat meals at a table and once finished they don't eat any more. They don't sell crisps in the bars.

Research shows that the trigger to stop eating for Americans is when the show is over. They eat in front of the telly and when the programme has finished, that is their cue to stop eating.

For most of us, it is the snacking - the unnecessary food-like materials - that make us fat.

In the hand is in mouth. In the cupboard is in the hand.