Whether an illness affects your heart, your leg or your brain, it's still an illness, and there should be no distinction.

One of the things I've done personally is bring my girlfriends into my health and fitness journeys.

People are always going to have opinions, and people have a right to their opinions, particularly when you're the First Lady; you're representing the nation. I've tried to be at peace with the choices that I make first, and then be open to everyone else's reflection.

Good health is multifaceted - it's physical, it's internal, it's my diet, and my emotional state. It's all tied in together.

I joke that I stick with the job because it covers my insurance, but the reality is that my career has always been very important to me.

We should always have three friends in our lives-one who walks ahead who we look up to and follow; one who walks beside us, who is with us every step of our journey; and then, one who we reach back for and bring along after we've cleared the way.

The idea that we are our brother's keeper and our sister's keeper. That we should treat others as we would want to be treated. And that we care for the sick... feed the hungry... and welcome the stranger... no matter where they come from, or how they practice their faith.