The daunting task of being a mother, a wife, and an independent career or professional person is really taxing.

I'm the father of three daughters, and they're all highly trained professionals. Two of them are mothers, and the other one wants to be at some point.

Sometime in the early Seventies, gender-free toys were briefly a popular idea. So at Christmas on the California beach in 1972, we downplayed the dolls with frilly dresses and loaded up Santa's sack with toy trucks and earth movers for our three daughters.

Our daughters were coming of age during a rising consciousness about gender equality. Throughout their school years - from kindergarten through graduate school, 1972 to 1992 - women were starting to take their places in areas traditionally reserved mostly for men.

My parents moved to England with that immigrant ethos of self-betterment, but I don't think they expected the kind of grief they experienced.

A lot of people who have depression understand that the last thing in the world you want to do when you're feeling that way is get up and exercise. It's virtually impossible to do that. It's like somebody beating you.

The things that are going to actually help you or me stay healthy are not necessarily the things that happen inside a doctor's office. They're the things that allow us to choose healthy lifestyles on a day-by-day basis.

Show me any health professional - great and not so great - who says they don't make mistakes or haven't made one in years, and I'll show you someone who has trouble admitting the truth.