Obesity bias needs to be fixed. We are most likely to fix it when standing on a solid bedrock of understanding it at its origins. We can then replace the crude and obsolete survival-related imperatives bestowed to us in our genes, with the better angels of our nature.

At that moment, I felt like a freak. As I stared in the mirror, I felt my eyes begin to water. I felt disfigured and ashamed. But I cut the pity party short. I had survived a life-threatening experience, and these were the scars I had to show for it. I needed to move on.

This particular morning in mid-April was quite chilly, although clear. In fact, the early suffusion of sunlight was promising a day of great beauty. Not that Michelle was listening to such promises. Far too busy. And besides, the climate inside was always perfect.

Every winter, thousands of people are stranded while driving in the snow. When driving in winter weather, it is best to heed the old Yankee saying: "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst!"

Don't use the cancer card to have your school workload reduced, to cheat on tests, or get paid to do nothing. Use it instead to get the big piece of chicken at dinner.

The issue of personal responsibility for health and weight control comes up frequently in my professional circles, generating strong and opposing views. I have addressed this theme recently -- and many times in the past -- and expressed my own opinions.

I believe each of us has an innate capacity for strength and throughout our lives, we develop -- through conditions we find ourselves in -- the skills to be secure, passionate, formidable and determined.