Vegetarian Couldn't Heal From Burns

'I am doing the best I can possibly be,' drummer says of recovery.
By Jocelyn Vena

Travis Barker said he's "thankful to be alive" after the plane crash in Columbia, South Carolina, last month that killed four people and seriously injured him and DJ AM. The former Blink-182 drummer opens up about the accident in the new issue of Us Weekly.

"I hate planes," he said. "My biggest fear ever is to be involved in a plane crash, so when that happened ... well, I'm just thankful to be alive! I'm just grateful to be here at all." Barker then choked up a bit, the mag said.

"I am doing the best I can possibly be. I'm so anxious to get out of here," the 32-year-old drummer said. "I was in Georgia at the hospital over there and was scared to death to even get on an airplane again, so I had Shanna and my father come out and meet me and we took a bus back to L.A. I've just been in surgery after surgery. I have third-degree burns basically from my feet up to my waist and both hands. One of my hands has second-degree burns and one has third-degree burns."

One big change that Barker has made since the accident is changing his diet. He's broken with his vegetarian regimen in the interest of helping his recovery. "Because I was a vegetarian, for my first three surgeries, it was hard to get any of my grafts to take to my real skin," he said. "I have such low levels of protein. I need protein from food rather than just protein supplements. I changed my diet. I would do anything I possibly could [to get better]. They said, 'There's a possibility you might heal faster if you do eat meat or just change your eating habits.' So I did. I don't regret it at all, because I feel so much better!"

The change may already be having a positive effect on his recovery. "I just got out of surgery maybe an hour ago," he said. "They took pieces from my back and pieces of skin from my thighs and they grafted them onto my feet, my heels and my right forearm and it actually stuck!"

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Because he was a vegetarian his body wasn’t able to heal itself due to low protein levels. If you are on a diet that doesn’t allow your body to properly heal itself when injured, does that sound healthy to you? A balanced diet that includes meat and dairy products will always be the best.