I’ve been leading a 30-day healthy eating and living accountability group, which means I’m on the hot seat to walk the talk. It’s been a good thing ­– I would not have re-started my meditation practice and many more glasses of wine would have been indulged in than were. And I'm pretty sure there are a few more wedges of cheese left in the world because of this challenge.

Interestingly enough, I haven't lost any weight – and that's okay. I'm studying for midterms, and I'm in the Anatomy & Physiology part of the review. The review brings up an important point: Our cells make up our organs, and in order for those organs to be healthy and function correctly, our individual cells need to be healthy and built correctly. Good nutritional choices are not just about weight loss; it's about the quality of cells in our body, making up our organs. 

Appropriate nutrition is what builds those cells correctly. So we are laying the foundation – right now, at this moment – for health for the next seven years to come. That's right: our bodies rebuild from the inside out. Even more amazingly, according to Deepak Chopra, 98% of the cells that made up our body last year are no longer there.

• Every six months, new bones
• Every 10 days, new stomach lining
• Every three months, new blood cells

So the changes we make today may have lasting effects 10 days from now, three months from now, six months from now and into next year. We are literally laying new foundation in all of our cellular function and metabolic processes every single day.

Every cookie you don't eat, every ice cream scoop you pass up and every extra 20 minutes of movement you say “yes” to is you making an investment in yourself not just today, not just in your pants size, but you and your insides down the road. When we change the quality of the nutrients that go into our body, we change our immune system and literally recreate ourselves from the inside out.

When you reach for a snack today, make it a healthy one!