A Plant-based Diet is Keeping Me Alive

It all started with an athletic 32-year-old man, a 99% clogged widow-maker artery, and a devastated girlfriend…

We are Brittany Kruse and Alex Miller and this is our story.

Alex lived a more active lifestyle then most males his age with teaching full time high school Special Ed, running his Buffalo-themed business called INTHEBUFF716 that is featured in several companies like Wegmans, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Delaware North. Also owning rental properties and actively practicing his photography.

(Food from Nourish Cafe in San Francisco, CA)

If that wasn’t enough, he managed to keep up a solid physical stature with weight training at least 5 times a week at the gym. So to say the least, heart disease never crossed our minds in the realm of possibilities that could be wrong. Alex started experiencing chest pain and was led to believe by doctors for two whole months that it was simply heartburn or anxiety. Doctors didn’t take his symptoms as serious as they should have due to his age, physique and no family history of heart disease. After passing out from the pain in May 2017, Alex checked himself into the Emergency Room. He was admitted to the hospital immediately and endured a 5-day testing filled stay. Finally, Alex had an angiogram done and we finally got our answer. The result, a 99% blocked widow maker artery and an insertion of a stent. This is extremely rare for someone Alex’s age and the surgeon said it was a miracle that he survived for so long with his dangerous blockage. While in recovery, the first thing the cardiologist told us was that if Alex wanted to stay alive, he would have to eat as a cow does. At the time, we couldn’t fully process this statement due to “utter” shock, but it stuck with us and we knew we would do whatever it took to keep Alex “alive”.

After grasping the events that unfolded, we decided to dip our toes into the plant-based lifestyle. Coming from the standard American diet, I truly believed I was cooking healthy protein rich meals. After extensive research, we discovered that the ideal diet is avoiding all meat and dairy, eradicating everything we were once taught. Presently, in the best shapes of our lives mentally and physically, we have truly become plant-based experts and want to inspire others to do the same.

After making our positive lifestyle change, we were surprised to find that people didn’t receive it as well as we thought they would. How could one look down upon another for wanting to be healthier? In fact, we received stereotypical comments about becoming hippies and eating grass. Being a healthcare marketing professional, this label offended me. We became downright determined to alter this narrow-minded way of thinking and with that, White Gloved Vegan was born.

White Gloved Vegan is a movement to break stereotypes associated with veganism and inspire others to adapt a plant-based lifestyle. The “white glove” signifies that a vegan can be a class act high standing individual and not be ridiculed for going against society norms. 

Here are some things that you can expect to see on our blog:

• Recipes
• Weight Loss & Health Tips
• How to Transition to a Plant-based Lifestyle
• Vegan Travel
• Creating a Movement
• Coping With a Near Death Experience
• & a lot of photography!