March is National Nutrition Month and highlights some of the easiest ways we can control our health.

ABC15 Health Insider Dr. Shad Marvasti says diet links directly to some of the major diseases of our time like cancer, diabetes, low blood sugar, and heart disease.

As part of his specialty, he teaches medical students at the University of Arizona how to use food as medicine pointing to specific studies where changes in diet have been proven to prevent recurrence of heart attack and stroke and have improved the blood sugar levels of diabetic patients.

Dr. Shad says 64% of the Standard American Diet is made up of processed foods.

Step one toward better health, he says, is limiting those foods. He encourages you to read labels and avoid foods with too many ingredients that you’ve never heard of.

Instead, add two to four more servings of whole fruits and vegetables.