The Lifestyle Shift That Changed Travis (50) Barker's Health

Travis Barker has survived more physical trauma than almost anyone else in modern music, from a plane crash that killed four people to a hospitalization for pancreatitis more than a decade later. Each crisis seems to have pushed him further into the same disciplined lifestyle rather than away from it.

That lifestyle traces back to one specific vow made while he was still recovering in a hospital bed. Nearly two decades later, he says he still has not found a reason to go back.

None of it happened as a smooth, immediate transformation. Here is the real story behind the lifestyle shift that changed Travis Barker’s health.

A Promise Made In A Hospital Bed

In 2008, the small plane Barker was traveling on skidded off a runway and burst into flames, killing four people including his bodyguard and assistant. Barker survived with third degree burns across 65 percent of his body and spent three months in the hospital undergoing 26 surgeries, according to CBS News.

During recovery, he had to eat 6,000 calories a day just to heal, relying on beef jerky and enormous peanut butter smoothies since no vegan option was available at the time, he told The Guardian, according to VegNews. Once he was well enough to leave, he committed to going fully vegan for good, fulfilling a promise made partly for his friend and fellow survivor DJ AM, who died of an overdose a year later.

The Diet That Followed Took Years To Fully Stick

Barker had actually first gone vegetarian at 15, long before the crash, but it was the plant based shift afterward that he says genuinely transformed how his body felt. He has described having endless energy since making the switch, according to Nicki Swift, by way of Men’s Journal.

He later cut gluten too, crediting the change with noticeably improving his day to day functionality. He has also become a visible investor in vegan and plant based businesses, putting real money behind the lifestyle rather than just talking about it publicly.

Health Scares Have Kept Coming, But So Has The Discipline

In 2023, Barker was hospitalized for pancreatitis following a colonoscopy, a serious enough scare that his teenage daughter publicly asked fans for prayers, according to AOL. He recovered and has continued the same disciplined routine since.

Barker’s own advice for anyone considering a major health change later in life is simple, just commit and don’t overthink it. “Once you get into it, it becomes your normal,” he told Men’s Journal, crediting consistency, resistance training and his plant based diet with keeping him performing at full speed on tour even now.

Nearly two decades after one of the worst nights of his life, Travis Barker’s health still traces back to a promise he made to himself in a hospital bed. Every setback since has apparently only reinforced it rather than shaken it loose.