Jason Dufner loses 20 pounds on the Phil Mickelson ‘no-Twinkie’ diet

Jason Dufner has become the latest high-profile athlete to sing the praise of going gluten-free.

The 2013 PGA champion tweeted on Tuesday that exercise and a new diet — similar to the one that Humana Challenge competitor Phil Mickelson and NBA superstar LeBron James follow — helped him shed 20 pounds.

We’ll know soon enough whether Mickelson’s new healthy lifestyle, which he adopted to lose 20 pounds as well as increase his club head speed by 10 mph, will help him rebound from a less-than-stellar 2014 season. In addition to a no-win campaign, the five-time major champion managed only one top-10 finish in 21 starts, which included three withdrawals and three missed cuts.

“The worst year of my career,” said Mickleson, who, like Dufner, implemented an offseason workout regimen, going at it hard four days a week with trainer Sean Cochran.

“Phil’s basically following a Paleo diet, which is gluten-free, no sugars and no processed foods,” Cochran told Golf Digest recently. “I think it’s how we were designed to eat.

“You have to wonder how a Twinkie can have a five-year shelf life,” noted Cochran, not necessarily spilling the beans on Mickelson’s former junk food of choice. “That can’t be good for your performance.” Here’s Phil on-site at the Humana yesterday (those calves!):

Mickelson’s goals were “to be stronger, to be able to swing the club faster,” he said in December, and he was pleased with his progress.

“In the first five or six weeks I’ve had some immediate results,” he said. “I’m getting lighter, developing more core strength and speed and increasing my ball speed. It’s been awhile since I felt so at ease.”

It looks like Dufner, whose last competitive round was in November at the Chiangmai Golf Classic in Thailand, where he finished T7, is all-in on Phil’s no-Twinkie diet.

As for the guy who inspired this latest surge of sports stars to go all Paleo, King James proclaimed himself lighter and quicker after losing 25 pounds before his return to Cleveland this season.

Can’t wait to see Phil and Duf gliding down the fairways at PGA West and La Quinta.