Nutritionist Explains: The #1 Reason You’re Always Hungry

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Dr Faye Bate** (0:30)
Trigger warning, this episode contains discussion of disordered eating behaviors and related topics that some listeners may find distressing. If any of this content impacts you, please consider skipping this episode or listening with support. Support is available. In the UK, you can contact BEAT, the UK's eating disorder charity on 0808-801-0677 or visit beateatingdisorders.org.uk.

**Joshua Hills** (0:55)
Josh, I think I have a bit of an emergency. I've just eaten like the whole pack of fag in one bar. When I was 25, she just told me one day, she said, I've been diagnosed with anorexia. Googling on the computer, why doesn't my mom eat? And that's when I first came across the word anorexia. Why are we so interested in what a woman looks like, what her body is like?

**Dr Faye Bate** (1:11)
Joshua Hills is a nutritionist with first-hand experience with living with eating disorders after growing up where his mom was battling one. He's turned his personal experience into helping thousands.

**Joshua Hills** (1:23)
This whole demonization of ultra-processed foods is just like the re-emergence of like clean eating.

**Dr Faye Bate** (1:28)
I'm sorry, I'm going to say something that's going to trigger a lot of people.

**Joshua Hills** (1:31)
It's why a lot of people struggle with hunger because they're always looking for the next low-calorie snack. I don't like the term intermittent fasting. This is bad, like stop eating this food that everyone's been telling you to eat. People go, oh, I need to listen to this. When I have children, I want to let them on social media. And I feel so strongly about that, especially with my mom and other people close to me and seeing what they've kind of endured with eating disorders. What I learned that day kind of like terrifies me.

**Dr Faye Bate** (1:52)
So if you are on a food journey, this could be for you. But before we get into the episode, if you could just spare me a moment of your time and hit subscribe, or follow if you are listening on Spotify.
Thank you.

**Joshua Hills** (2:04)
Hi, I'm Joshua Hills and you're listening to Her Discussions podcast.

**Dr Faye Bate** (2:08)
Well, guys, you may notice we have a man on the podcast. That is a very rare occurrence for a good reason. However, this gentleman today is on the podcast because a couple of weeks ago, I saw a post that Joshua did about his mum's eating disorder. Now, as a girl who has struggled with her weight and disordered eating herself, it just really, really moved me because I really enjoyed Joshua's content, like no bullshit approach to nutrition beforehand. But actually seeing that post and understanding the story behind it really, really, really moved me and I really wanted to get him on the podcast. So we're just going to get straight into it. Tell me a little bit about what was going on in your childhood.

**Joshua Hills** (2:51)
When I was about 10 or 11, I kind of guessed that my mom had something called anorexia. So my mom had struggled with it since when she was a teenager. She doesn't know exactly where it came from, but she remembers certain comments that kind of stayed with her through doing things like gymnastics, athletics, dance, that kind of thing, very kind of like weight focused and basically developed anorexia as a teenager. And then when I was born, she still had it, she hadn't had treatment or anything. So kind of like early years, you start to notice things when you grow up. So I started to notice that when we sat down for dinner, me and my brother, my mum either wouldn't be there, or she would sit with us but wouldn't eat.
And then slowly that kind of builds up. And I think as a child, you kind of notice those things, you don't know what's going on, but you just find it strange. You might go around other people's house and their parents sit with you and eat. Or it might be if we're on holiday, me and my brother would get an ice cream, my mum wouldn't. My mum never joined in with that kind of stuff. So I remember walking to school one day and just looking at my mum and thinking, it's just something not quite right. So I just remember just Googling on the computer in the dining room, like why doesn't my mum eat? And that's when I first came across the word anorexia. Obviously, as a child, you don't go and tell your parents what you've been reading or what you think. And then there's a few things that happened throughout my teenage years where I became very protective of my mum because I didn't understand what she was going through. I was young, but I remember being about 16 and some comments were made about her. And I thought, I'm going to stand up for her here. I kind of protect her as like her oldest son. So my mum then realized that I kind of understood it and I had a real passion for food, nutrition, everything like that, did it at school, did it at A levels, and she really supported that.