“Eat right, bite by bite.”

That’s the theme of this year’s National Nutrition Month,® an annual awareness campaign designed to remind us of the importance of making healthy choices when it comes to what we eat.

Need proof of how those healthy choices can impact your physical and mental wellbeing? Meet Marc Ramirez.

Marc is a former University of Michigan football player who, after his playing days were over, developed a host of health conditions. In 2002, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and by 2011, he was taking daily insulin shots as well as four medications to combat diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

As Marc recalls, he was resigned to his fate. “Cancer, as well as heart disease, has devastated my family,” says Marc. “Plus, I come from a long line of diabetics. I grew up believing that because I was Mexican and because diabetes ran throughout my entire family, I had no choice but to have a life full of illnesses.”

But in 2011, Marc and his wife Kim—who’ve been together since college—watched Forks Over Knives, a documentary that explores how changing from animal- to plant-based diets people can control and even eliminate diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

“That documentary changed our lives,” Kim says. “From that point on, we adopted a plant-based diet and now, almost nine years later, it’s improved our lives more than we ever expected.”

How much have their lives improved? Within just two months, Marc was off all five of the medications he had been taking. He shed 50 pounds. Kim, who had been experiencing monthly debilitating headaches, found that they stopped.

What’s more, Marc’s self-image completely changed from someone defined by illness to someone who is thriving. “I found out very quickly that if we fuel our bodies with the right foods, we really have a lot more control over our health,” he says.

Now Marc and Kim are sharing their stories and advocating for plant-based diets via their nonprofit, Chickpea and Bean. Through their website and live events, Marc provides the living proof of their message: to not let your genes determine your fate. “If I can give someone one piece of advice,” Marc says, “it’s this: Never underestimate the body’s ability to heal itself. All we have to do is feed it the right foods.”

Learn more about Marc and Kim here.

Read how Marc uses smart storytelling and effective advocacy in the latest edition of Living Proof: Telling Your Story to Make a Difference.