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.
We are Brittany & Alexander Miller and this is our story and the origins of White Gloved Vegan.
Alex lived a more active lifestyle then most males his age with teaching at Buffalo Public Schools and running his Buffalo-themed business, Born & Raised, that is featured in Wegmans. He also 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 three 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 ER at South Buffalo Mercy Hospital and was admitted immediately. After a 5-day stay, we finally got our answer. The angiogram result was a 99% blocked ‘widow maker’ LAD artery and an insertion of a stent. This is rare for someone Alex’s age and the surgeon said it was a miracle that he survived for so long with such a deadly 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, we truly believed we were consuming 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.
Two years later, in the best shapes of our lives mentally and physically, we have truly become plant-based experts and have been inspiring others to follow our footsteps.
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 high-standing citizens with professional careers, these labels surprised and offended us. We became downright determined to alter this narrow-minded way of thinking and with that, White Gloved Vegan was born.
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