Thanks for visiting our website! We are Kim (Chickpea) and Marc (Bean). On December 3, 2011 we began a plant based lifestyle. This change in eating cured Marc’s type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, frequent heartburn, obesity, and psoriasis. We feel so thrilled with the results, we want to yell about it from a mountaintop to let other people know that adopting a whole food plant-based lifestyle might help them too. So, this website is our mountain, and we are yelling.
Read:
Marc’s story and benefits he has experienced; Kim’s story.
In addition to ours, you can read other successful stories on our site.
Don’t take our word for it, though, look at the inspiring stories of how these individuals improved their health by adopting a whole foods, plant-based lifestyle.
Find interviews or articles regarding Chickpea and Bean.
The medications I was taking in 2011.
I grew up at the tip of southern Texas with four brothers and three sisters. When I was eight years old, my father abandoned our family and my mother struggled to raise eight children on her own. In search of better employment, she decided to move us to the Chicago area in 1982. In high school I thrived as a healthy athlete and earned a football scholarship to The University of Michigan. In those days I could eat whatever I wanted and did not have health or weight issues because I was so physically active. At twenty-one years old I was 6’2″ and weighed 305 pounds.
My entire life I witnessed my mother’s battle with diabetes and its complications. She suffered from kidney failure, vision problems, and heart disease. She underwent a kidney transplant donated by my sister Jill. Jill is my only sibling who has not been diagnosed with diabetes, but she too felt its impact as she bravely donated a kidney to our mother. After over 33 years of fighting diabetes, my mother passed in April 2002 (she was the family rock and I miss her dearly). If that were not bad enough, my oldest brother David passed in June 2002, just 2 months after my mother, due to pancreatic cancer. My oldest sister, Carol, struggled with diabetes too, but she started eating mostly plant-based and eliminated her medications. My twin brother, Joe, has battled diabetes for over 16 years and suffered a heart attack. Sandra, my youngest sister also has type 2 diabetes. Martin, our youngest sibling, suffers greatly from this terrible disease. He has had a pancreas and kidney transplant, is legally blind, had his right leg amputated, goes to dialysis three times a week, and takes 25 medications every day.
As the years progressed, I also found myself having high Hemoglobin A1C levels. The Hemoglobin A1C test is a blood result that diabetics are familiar with. It measures the average glucose levels in your blood over a 2-3 month timeframe. It indicates how much glucose remains in your blood and ultimately determines if doctors will consider you diabetic and begin prescribing medications. The current A1C range for a non-diabetic is between 4 and 5.7. I began taking the diabetes medication Metformin in 2002. My A1C level back in 2002 was 8.8 and ultimately rose to as high as 10.5 in September 2011. I was on insulin injections (Lantus) and I had already been taking 4 oral medications for years — Metformin (for diabetes), Januvia (for diabetes), Simvastatin (for high cholesterol), and Lisinopril (for high blood pressure).
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On December 3, 2011, Marc and I watched the documentary Forks over Knives and it changed our lives. My dad had given us the dvd months before, but I felt reluctant to watch it because I knew it would have a huge impact on me and I did not feel quite ready to change. Finally, we took the plunge and from that point on we abruptly adopted a plant based diet. We gave up animal products cold turkey (tee hee), and it improved our lives more than we ever expected.
When I met my husband in 1989 we were both seniors at The University of Michigan. I was a petite, studious vegetarian and he was a muscle bound, assertive football player who ate meat at practically every meal- and lots of it.
Here is the first picture ever taken of us together at our bar Rick’s. Three years later we were married and started a family.
Somewhere along the way I gradually began to eat meat again. I hate to write this, but the reason I started to eat meat again was that it was so convenient. Along the way, I made reasonably healthy choices about food. Marc, unfortunately, did not, and as time went on his body paid the price. In 2005 he started taking Metformin for diabetes and Simvastatin for high cholesterol. In 2011 he had to start injecting himself with insulin twice a day, which he despised. His mom passed away from complications related to diabetes and his brother had recently undergone a kidney and pancreas transplant as well as an amputation because of it. Marc was determined to reverse his diabetes. Forks over Knives gave us hope, so we followed its recommendations immediately, and it worked. Marc is no longer diabetic. He no longer has high cholesterol. He takes no medications and his glucose levels are normal.
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The meetings and events are intended to share information, recipes, knowledge, cooking tips, etc. that aim at improving overall health.
Chickpea and Bean are Food For Life Instructors certified
through Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
© 2025 — Chickpea & Bean. This website does not provide legal or medical advice. This website is for informational purposes.
