Revealed: Angelina's diet secrets

We always knew Angelina Jolie was in a class all her own.

Salt, which is in UAE cinemas now, just proved it again.

The ultra-fit star keeps in shape by following a diet that is the opposite of most Hollywood stars’.

When filming an action-adventure movie such as Salt, she eats a high-carb, low-protein diet to maintain her weight while shooting her high-voltage stunt scenes.

“Angelina has to have 70 per cent carbohydrates and 30 per cent protein diet with an anaerobic training regime [as opposed to aerobic], so she can put muscle on without losing weight,” Jolie’s stunt instructor, Simon Crane, told Self magazine.

Jolie, 35, did 99 per cent of the stunts herself in the spy thriller, in which she plays a CIA agent accused of being a sleeper Russian spy.

“Sticking to four or five meals a day routine as much as possible [was key],” Crane added.

“Then when she reaches a good body level that we like, we change it to 60 per cent - 40 per cent favouring carbs. No junk food, no empty calories, and alcohol only on weekends.”

While some actresses prefer not to run around and get dirty, Angelina, who admits she “never stops moving", prefers to act out her own scenes as much as she can.

Crane, who has worked with Jolie for several years, says she had to wear protective pads in order to prevent scrapes, cuts and bruises.

“When she did the jump/fall [in a scene where Jolie jumps from a bridge onto a moving truck below], she was wearing a rucksack which we put a lot of soft padding in,” explains Simon.

“She also wore elbow, hip and knee pads. The stunt was accomplished by a combination of real fall and wire work.”

Angelina, who previously took up karate and weight lifting when she played 'Lara Croft' in the 2001 and 2001 blockbusters, also underwent fight training for Salt.

“For her fight training, we got her learning a combination of Muay Thai and Krav Magha very early on,” says Crane.

“We would then pick the moves she was best at and combine them into a sequence.”

He recalls: “The training, at the early stages, took up about three to four sessions a week, lasting approximately two hours each. When we started filming, we trained during lunch breaks or on the weekends.”

He adds: “One of the important issues was to bring Angie’s body and mind up to a level of fitness that would enable her to take on same of the physical pressures of Salt. I work with my usual team and her stunt double, Eunice Huthart, is also her trainer [which is lucky, since Angie does 99 per cent of her own stunts, Eunice would otherwise be unemployed].”