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Matt Damon, 55, says he made major changes to his diet in preparation for his latest film, The Odyssey.
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He said going gluten-free helped him lose weight to 167 pounds, a weight he hadn’t been at since high school.
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Experts say a gluten-free diet is not necessary to lose weight or improve health.
Matt Damon, 55, said a change in eating habits has left him weighing less than he has in years.
During Wednesday’s episode of the “Next Level” podcast, Damon talked about how he prepared for his latest role in “The Odyssey.”
“I’m in really good shape physically. I’ve lost a lot of weight. He said he wanted me to be thin and strong. It’s a weird thing,” Damon told hosts Jason and Travis Kelce, referring to the film’s director Christopher Nolan.
Damon said there was one thing he cut out of his diet to achieve such a physique.
“I really, just stopped eating gluten because of another thing that my doctor and I did,” Damon said. “My weight used to hover between 185 and 200. I did the entire movie at 167. I haven’t been that light since high school. So it took a lot of training and a very strict diet.”
The actor said he works with coaches and compares physical preparation to how the Kelce siblings prepare for football season, with training becoming a part of his daily routine.
“You know, it’s like part of your day. It’s part of your job, right? Like yeah, you get very used to it and really build your day around all of these things,” Damon said.
The actor added that he has not eaten gluten since. “I’m done. I’m done. Everything about me is gluten-free,” Damon said.
A gluten-free diet eliminates gluten, a protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye. It is often taken for medical or digestive reasons, including controlling symptoms of celiac disease.
For most people, gluten is not necessarily bad.
“Evidence suggests that for overall health, the focus should be on a whole, minimally processed plant-based diet, which can include gluten-containing grains,” Grace Fjeldberg, a registered dietitian at the Mayo Clinic Health System, told Business Insider in 2021.
Despite its popularity, gluten-free diets don’t necessarily lead to weight loss, nor are they a universal way to improve health.
Damon is no stranger to reaching the top of his game for roles.
Damon told the BBC in 2016 that getting back in shape to return to the “Bourne” franchise after his final appearance in 2007’s “The Bourne Supremacy” was “brutal”.
“I was 29 when we made the first Bourne movie, and I thought it was a hard job,” Damon said.
“Now that I’m 45, it’s so brutal. We shot this bare-knuckle fight scene on my 45th birthday and a lot of hard work went into making it happen,” he added.
Read the original article on Business Insider