I was a bodybuilder who almost died from a heart attack: What I learned after saved my life

On Sept. 2, 2018, while in the middle of my workout, the pain became unbearable. I could barely speak. I was pale, and began to black out from the pain and shortness of breath.

Robby Graham is proprietor of Revelations Café, a plant-based, faith-based restaurant in Tampa, Florida, which he founded with his wife, Mia. Robby and Mia’s story is also featured in the documentary film "Revelations Café: Food for the Soul," and in their book, "222 Says It Was Always You."

In 2018 my wife, Mia, and I were living a good clean healthy lifestyle – exercising together five or six days a week. Mia was a vegetarian, and though I supported that, as a former bodybuilder, I believed I needed animal protein to hold muscle size and strength. I was training hard and eating pretty much what I wanted. I still felt great, and looked pretty decent on the outside as well.

We were also pursuing Mia’s God-given dream of opening a plant-based, faith-based café in our community – a place where people could get great, healthy food while being spiritually fed, too. Revelations Café was in its final build-out phase, and I could not get onboard with the menu – why own a restaurant if I can’t enjoy the food? I had no desire to alter my own diet.