Introduction
Most men chasing weight loss in midlife have tried the same thing over and over: eat less, move more, and hope the scales shift. Dr Jessica Turton, an Accredited Practising Dietitian with a PhD in nutrition from the University of Sydney, has spent her career proving that approach fails more often than it works, and that there is a better way to manage weight, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes by eating more of the right foods, not less of everything. This episode of Don’t Let The Old Man In sits down with the woman once described on the cover of a national magazine as the dietitian who says you should eat more to lose weight, to unpack exactly what that means for men in their forties, fifties and sixties.
Why this conversation matters
Insulin resistance is one of the biggest health issues facing men in midlife, and most don’t know they have it until a blood test flags something serious. Jessica has built her career, and a busy Sydney practice called Ellipse Health, around treating exactly that problem. Her PhD research looked at low-carbohydrate diets for diabetes management, and she has presented at international conferences including the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions.
What makes this conversation different is where Jessica started. Long before the PhD and the magazine cover, she was a teenager who restricted her way into a genuine eating disorder, dropping to 47 kilograms before rebounding to 90 through binge eating she could not control. It was in the middle of that, while studying to become a dietitian herself, that she found the science that changed everything: how carbohydrates and insulin drive fat storage, and why calorie counting was never the answer, for her or for the thousands of patients she has since helped.
What we discuss
- Why “eat less, move more” fails so many people, and how it can quietly trigger disordered eating
- Jessica’s own experience with restrictive dieting and a clinical binge eating disorder as a teenager, and how she found her way out
- What insulin resistance actually is, why it becomes so common by midlife, and the warning signs a GP might miss
- Why eating more, not less, of the right proteins and fats can help you lose weight and feel properly full
- Practical, no-calorie-counting swaps you can make at home, at a cafe or at a barbecue with mates
- How a simple blood test or a glucose monitor can show you, in real time, what is actually happening inside your body
Why midlife men should listen
If you have had a blood test come back with a note about your blood sugar, your cholesterol or “pre-diabetes,” or you have simply noticed the weight sitting differently than it used to, this episode gives you a way to think about it that has nothing to do with willpower. Jessica does not sell restriction. She explains, plainly and without jargon, what is happening physiologically as men age, and what can actually be done about it with real food.
She has also lived the other side of it: the toll of restriction, and the difficulty of explaining what is happening in your own body when nobody around you understands. That combination of hard science and hard-won experience is rare, and it is why this conversation lands as more than a nutrition chat.
Liked what you heard in this episode, but not quite sure what to do with the insights?
We have you covered.
We are releasing a short, 10-minute bonus episode that covers two things:
- What exactly should you do next, and
- Why this is guaranteed to work.
Perfect insights. No excuses.
All you have to do is execute!
Listen or watch on:
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Guest info
Jessica Turton
Dr Jessica Turton is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and the Director of Ellipse Health, a Sydney-based dietetics practice she leads alongside her husband Tom and a team of practitioners. She holds a PhD in nutrition from the University of Sydney, where her doctoral research, supervised by Associate Professor Kieron Rooney and Professor Grant Brinkworth, investigated low-carbohydrate diets for the management of type 1 diabetes, including an Australia-wide clinical trial run with the CSIRO.
Jessica has co-authored peer-reviewed research published in journals including Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, and has presented at international conferences such as the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions, Low Carb USA and Low Carb Down Under.
Her clinical work spans type 1 and type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, PCOS, disordered eating and weight management, and she has helped thousands of patients improve their health without restrictive dieting. Jessica also co-authored the eBook Getting Started with Low-Carb and created the online program Eat More to Lose Weight.
