Nicole Richie seems to have lost all the baby weight already. It’s barely been a month, so how?! Well, according to the latest issue of OK, Nicole has jumped on board the fave quick-fix in Hollywood . Apparently she’s the latest celeb addicted to…

Taking the supplement ginkgo biloba had no clear-cut benefit on the risk of developing memory problems, according to a study published in the February 27, 2008, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The three-year study involved 118 people age 85 and older with no memory problems. Half of the participants took ginkgo biloba extract three times a day and half took a placebo. During the study, 21 people developed mild memory problems, or questionable dementia: 14 of those took the placebo and seven took the ginkgo extract. Although there was a trend favoring ginkgo, the difference between those who took gingko versus the placebo was not statistically significant.

As a child at summer camp, I would be forced to take a swimming test in the lake to assess my abilities. Lifeguards would determine how far out we were permitted to swim and then brand us with a beaded bracelet, color coded, just to be safe. The swim test was the sort of thing for which I would take 2 full milligrams of Klonopin today. The beach was expansive, and a far walk from where we were to leave our things and assemble for our tests. Woody Allen would probably liken this to something reminiscent of a holocaust procession to the showers. Fat, shirtless, exposed for a walk to my death. I was to tread water for ten minutes, and swim twenty laps. The ten minutes felt like an eternity. The laps were unthinkable. The water was cold and I could barely breathe. If you fell short of these goals, you would get only limited access to the water, and could not go kayaking. I loved kayaking, but I would always strive for a goal just shy, and make do with a canoe.

I don't know about you but I make most of the purchasing decisions in my household. Not that my husband cannot do it, but come on, he does not want to buy clothes for the kids, groceries, etc.  And I am not alone, women purchase or influence the purchases of 80% of all consumer goods -- trillions of dollars per year.   That is a lot of spending power!  So how can we take this purchasing power and save the environment?