Garden Can Take Wing

Provide these attractions to make your home a local hangout for birds and butterflies.

Color. Bright blooms packed with crunchy seeds, like sunflowers and zinnias, are best for enticing birds. Some butterflies prefer purple, such as phlox or the aptly named butterfly bush.

Food. As a treat for butterflies, leave out a slice of ripe lemon. For birds, avoid packaged seeds full of sorghum, which they have trouble eating. Use a mix with seeds like sunflower and millet instead.

Water. To start a bird party, attach a dripper tube to your hose and let it drip into a shallow birdbath. Butterflies will like a clay pot saucer filled with stones and a bit of water.

Sun. Butterflies are cold blooded, so place lures in warmer spots. Birds, on the other hand, like shelter. Research their preferences and act accordingly.

Dining Out Tips

On any given day, 51 million Americans are on a diet. And on the same day, 54 million of them eat a meal away from home. Is it possible to do both?

Yes, Ellen Grumet, 60, a receptionist in New York City, is proof.Grumet, who topped the scales at 82 kilos, dropped 32 kilos in 22 months, while still eating out three times a week. She ignored the bread, drank water, not wine and chose fruit for dessert. Here are some other suggestions from nutritionists:

Don’t open menu. Decide on fish or chicken before you sit down.

Cut your portions. Restaurant meals are about 20% fattier than home cooked. Eat less and cut calories. Ask the waiter to bag half your meal before you are served.

Play mix-and-match. Make a meal out of salad and an appetizer.Small, multicourse meals, chosen well, pack fewer calories and the breaks force you to eat more slowly.

Eat More Soup

Japanese women have allow risk of breast cancer, and it may be partly due to soup. Compared with most American women, they take in nearly 700 times more isoflavones,the cancer-fighting substances prevalent in soy foods. Scientists at National Cancer Centre of Japan collected data on the diets of 21,852 Japanese women and found that those who ate three or more bowls of miso soup a day had about half the risk of developing breast cancer as those who ate less than one (a bowl is a little less than 1/2 cup) The soup, made from soybean paste and tofu, is high in salt, so don’t overdo it. Men can benefit too, since isoflavones may reduce prostate cancer risk. Look for fantastic foods Miso with Tofu at your supermarket.

Tips To Make More Confident Calls

Nearly 80% of workers prefer e-mail to the phone. People dread calls because they feel like they are on the spot. For phone manners so effective you will look forward to dialing:

Stand Up. Your voice will be more energetic. Some organizations encourage sales men to get off their butts before calling.

Don’t cradle the receiver. Instead, hold it six meters away from your mouth. You will sound less muffled and more like you are there in person.

Just Talk. Don’t use phone time to open mail or type. Not only it is obvious to the other person that you are distracted, but one study found that multitasking reduces your ability to listen.

Take a pause. If you get flustered, simply stop talking and correct yourself. Silence is better than ums and ahs because it projects thoughtfulness, not confusion.

Stealth Shopping On the Web

Protecting your privacy is harder when shopping online because you are asked to fork over sensitive data. Here’s what Jay Foley at the Identity Theft Resource Centre suggests to minimize exposure:

Change your identity. Create a new e-mail address exclusively for online stores that require one.tis dummy address will wind up receiving future junk e-mails. Then each week, trash all the spam from your “shopping” address.

Look for the lock. Before filling out any on-screen form asking for credit card data, verify that you are at a secure web page. The URL in the field at the top of your screen should begin with http:// and look for a locked padlock icon in the lower-left corner of the screen.

Send spies packing. If you download free software, “spyware” may have been secretly attached by a third party to monitor your surfing habits. Some sites provide free software that detects and removes spyware from your hard drive. RD

Foods That Fight Stress

You can snack when you are under pressure, if you do it right way. You can help your body and mind cope with stress by snacking on certain foods. Sometimes even small portions can start easing the effects of stress.

Half a chocolate bar or fewer sweets. The sweet stuff sugar content can raise endorphin levels, and a compound called anandamide is believed to boost your mind.

Popcorn or whole grain crackers. Because they enhance the release of the feel good brain chemical serotonin, this starchy carbohydrate rich foods can induce a sense of calm and may help relieve depression.

Mashed potatoes or low fat pudding. These high starch foods may help soothing serotonin, but their status as comfort foods got them on list.

Cup of milk. Its calcium, magnesium and potassium content may help keep blood pressure down and drinking milk especially warmed, has a releasing effect for many people.

A cup of cereal. Eating cereal gives you more sustained energy and clearer thinking during the day, and research suggests that a daily bowl is associated with lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. RD