Archive for August, 2008

I Dare You! I Double Dare You To Make Your Own Pie Crust

Post on Aug 31st 2008

There is much to be said about the phrase home made. Sure some people can say they made it themselves, but it really is not home made if a store bought pie crust is used. Of course that is my personal opinion. If you make something at home I guess you could say it was home made. I should probably use the phrase, made from scratch.

I am as guilty as the next person. I tried recipe after recipe but I could not get the taste I remembered in a pie crust. One would say use oil, while another would call for shortening. Still others would say to use a combination of both and add an egg. They all said to use cold water and roll out on a lightly floured surface to the desired size and thickness.

Every time I would roll out the dough it would stick to the floured surface. If I put more flour than was called for the dough would get dry and break before I got it to the pan. If I re-rolled it and did manage to put it in the pan and bake my pie, the crust was tough and hard as cardboard. I was getting disgusted because I have an antique cupboard with an enamel surface that is perfect for kneading bread on. My great grandmother had the same cupboard and her pies were perfect.

So I gave up on recipes again and started experimenting. After numerous disasters and a few close calls I finally hit a home run with this formula. I use lard, not shortening and all purpose unbleached flour. Measure 2-cups flour into a bowl and 1/4-teaspoon salt. With a pastry blender cut in 1/2-cup cold lard until it looks like coarse cornmeal. Then add another 1/2-cup cold lard and cut it in until the lard is the size of peas. Then sprinkle over that mixture 1/4-cup of ice water-1-tablespoon at a time and mix the dough with your hands. When the dough forms a ball cover it and refrigerate it for at least 1/2-hour.

Now you will have a dough that you can use a lot of flour to roll it out with. It should not stick to anything and if you have to re-roll it, it will not be tough as cardboard. So go ahead I dare you!

Find bakeware at www.pothaven.com

Everything I write about is from personal observation and life experiences. I love to cook and prepare foods in different ways. I like sharing my experiences about food and cooking. My website http://www.pothaven.com was created because of my interest in quality cookware and cooking.

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Spanish Food - How To Make Spicy Gazpacho Soup.

Post on Aug 31st 2008

Home-made soups are so good for you - all that nourishing stock
and chock-a-block full of vitamins and minerals.

But … who on earth could face boiling bones for hours on end
during the scorching Spanish summer weather, not to mention
preparing the soup once the stock is made? I dont think it
would tickle anybodys fancy to then have to tuck into a
piping-hot soup!

For this reason, the Spanish came up with their wonderful,
ice-cold soup - gazpacho - beautifully colorful, packed with
goodness, cheap and simple to prepare, no cooking and … most
important of all, an absolute delight to drink.

Traditional gazpacho originates from romantic Andalucia - that
large, exotic southerly region of Spain which is home to such
extensive Arabic influence.

The chilled, raw soup was originally made by pounding bread and
garlic with tomatoes, cucumber and peppers but, nowadays, your
electric blender renders this effortless! Olive oil endows it
with a smooth, creamy consistency and vinegar adds a refreshing
tang - just what you need when life gets too hot to handle!

The spicy soup should be served in true Spanish style with small
bowls of accompaniments - finely chopped peppers, cucumber,
onion … even hard-boiled eggs and croutons, if you feel up to
it! Guests will then sprinkle what appeals to them on the soup.

Traditional gazpacho is tomato-based, with most Spanish families
having developed their own, unique recipes. However, nowadays,
you will also find gazpacho recipes that have nothing to do
with tomatoes - white, almond-based gazpachos, fruit-based
gazpachos, etc.

Do you suffer from insomnia? Could be that drinking gazpacho is
the answer, for in Pedro Almodovars 1987 film “Mujeres Al Borde
De Un Ataque De Nervios”, various characters help themselves to
the soup and promptly fall asleep!

However, dont fall asleep just yet as you havent read over the
recipe!

Ingrediants for 4 servings:

- 4 ripe tomatoes
- 1 onion
- red pepper
- green pepper
- cucumber
- 3 cloves garlic
- 50 g bread
- 3 dessertspoons vinegar
- 8 dessertspoons olive oil
- Water
- Salt/pepper
- chilli pepper (optional)

Garnishings:

- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- finely chopped onion
- finely chopped red pepper
- finely chopped green pepper
- finely chopped cucumber

Method:

1. Break up bread and soak in water for 30 minutes.

2. Skin tomatoes, remove seeds and stalks from peppers.

3. Peel cucumber, onion and garlic.

4. Chop onion, garlic, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber.

5. Place in electric blender.

6. Squeeze out excess water from bread and add to blender.

7. Add oil and vinegar.

8. Blend well.

9. If necessary, add sufficient water for soup-like consistency.

10. Pour into a bowl with ice cubes.

11. Fridge for a couple of hours.

12. Serve in bowls, with garnishings in separate dishes.

Gazpacho is best enjoyed sitting in the shade, looking out onto
an azure sea, blue sky and golden sun and sands!

Linda Plummer is webmistress of the site:
http://www.top-tour-of-spain.com
which provides a wide range of information regarding Spain and
the Spanish language.

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Debt Consolidation Loans: Solution for Multiple Debts

Post on Aug 31st 2008

Debt consolidation loan is becoming popular day by day in U.K. Large number of people who want to get rid of multiple debts are seeking debt consolidation loan. Popularity of debt consolidation loan is increasing day by day.

There are many benefits associated with a Debt consolidation loan. The first and the foremost is that it collates all your outstanding debts into a single payment. Next, it reduces the interest rates on your debts and above all, makes your loan a more manageable one.

Being a homeowner you can procure Debt consolidation loan. If you have collateral to keep then a secured debt consolidation loan is the best option for you. If you are a tenant or non-homeowner then seek an unsecured debt consolidation loan. You will have to pay higher interest rate because of the high risk factor.

There are lots of methods through which you can avail a low interest debt consolidation loan. Firstly, you can approach to a lot of lenders and then, you can compare the rates offered by them. Secondly, a good credit history can help you in seeking a cheap debt consolidation loan. You have an ease to request the quotes online and then settle for the loan that is best suitable for you.

An adverse credit history cant debar you from seeking debt consolidation loan. You have an option of bad credit debt consolidation loan. Your bad credit history can be anything like CCJs, arrears, defaults or bankruptcy recorded against your name.

So, you can manage your multiple debts smartly with a debt consolidation loans.

About The Author:

The author is a business writer specializing in finance and credit products and has written authoritative articles on the finance industry. He has done his masters in Business Administration and is currently assisting Debt-Consolidation-For-The-Stress as a Finance specialist.
For more information please visit: http://www.debt-consolidation-for-the-stressed.co.uk

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You Can Win Without Competing

Post on Aug 31st 2008

You have probably been raised with the idea that to win, you always have to compete with others. For example, to be the winner in a running race, you have to beat the rest. However, there is a better and healthier way to win: winning without competing.

Let me demonstrate this better and healthier way of winning for you. Image we have a chocolate cake, shared by four people. The fairest way for these four people to eat the cake is to cut the cake into four equal pieces. Now, you happen to like this cake and you want to have some more. In other words, you want to WIN some more cake. Now, if you go with the traditional method of winning, you will have to take another piece from another person. This is winning by competing. However, there is a better way to win if you want to have more cake. You just need to bake a bigger cake, so everyone can have bigger pieces. Everyone is a winner. You do not need to compete with anyone. Nor do you have to take away anything from anyone. This is winning without competing.

Apply this method to a business. If you operate a business in America and you feel that the market is saturated. The only way for you to win a bigger market share seems to be competing with your competitors in America. Now, think about winning without competing! Why dont you take your business global and attract all the customers on this planet to your American business world. In this way, every business has a bigger market share.

Even in the example of a running race mentioned above, you can win without competing. For all the racers to win, all they have to do is to set a target for themselves to achieve before the race. Even if they do not become the fastest runner in the race, they still can be winners if they have achieved their own target.
So whenever you feel competition is too tough to win, remember You Can Win Anything Without Competing.

Vinh Nguyen is a free spirit writer. He is passionate about what motivates people. He believes that everyone has only one goal in life TO BE HAPPY and everyone deserves to be happy. The challenge for you is to decide what makes you happy.

His favourite website: http://livingthesecret.thesgrprogram.com

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Personal Car Financing

Post on Aug 31st 2008

It is not that difficult to own a car now; car loans have made dreams approachable. You can apply for car loans that suit your financial status. Have bad credit or no credit? Youre not alone. Nearly 25 percent of all car buyers cant qualify for standard financing options.

Yet, many people apply for car loans as now finance acquiring has become an easier procedure and suits the requirements of many. Availability of easy loans has no more remained a problem as there are various online organizations that fuel your procedures even if you are categorized as having bad credit. The finance availability procedure can be customized in accordance to your requirements, your financial status, etc. Many companies specialize in helping people with bad credit to get the car they have their hearts set on.

Some guidelines are provided by the companies who ease the burden of your loan acquiring messed-up procedures. Legal papers, your identity proof and a few other documents need to be stacked, in order to complete their formalities.

As for instance, the your income details become a major requirement as that is the basis of your loan being granted by the company you have opted for. In accordance to most of the companies an income of about $1500 per month or $8.66 per hour draws as a necessity for a full-time employed person.

The finance applicants should have been working for at least a year with the same employer, preferably 2 years are considered as an added advantage so as to ease the procedures. Also, the applicants balance should be cleared, bankruptcy should not be the applicants status feature; if the due payment is about a year old, and cash payment clearance turns out to be a necessity.

These indirect car loan lenders are far lenient as compared to the direct lenders as they miss out some of the tough norms, that of the bad credit criteria. More the work simplified, a cost lies behind it. Various indirect car loan lenders have their own rates as it is their volition. A survey of comparing these rates has to be done by the applicant before borrowing money in order to avoid repenting after the deal is done. It is imperative that the applicant carefully reviews the terms of his car finance before entering into an agreement with the car lender.

Another factor coming into picture is the duration of repayment of the loan acquired, number of installments, etc. For example, you may get lower monthly payment rates over 3 years than over 2 years. However, the total finance charges over time are higher over a longer term.

Approved Car Finance specialises in supplying tailored personal car finance and loans to a wide range of individuals - get car finance whatever your credit rating!

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Staight Talk from a Comfort Foodie: World Peace Through Vegetarianism

Post on Aug 31st 2008

I became a vegetarian in the early 80s. The Czech refugee I had lived with forbade any meat products from entering the little hovel we called home. I didnt own a car then, and only traveled as far as my Raleigh three-speed English racer could take me. On Fridays that was to the home of a well-respected psychotherapist whose house I cleaned. When my chores were finished Id welcome myself to her stocked pantry, and indulge on a simply prepared can of Star-Kist. I had to time that lunch well enough in advance of my homecoming as not to carry any lingering fish on my breath, otherwise I might not hear the end of a long speech about how Krishna may have incarnated into that same tuna that I had so ravenously devoured.

At nineteen years old, my relationship skills were practically non-existent. We argued about everything and nothing at all. I would storm out of the cabin and head to the deli in the center of town, the one with the huge loaves of European style bread in the front window. The ticket was always the same: turkey piled high on raisin-pumpernickel with Russian dressing, and a can on Dr. Browns Cel-Ray tonic on the side. There was a hidden spot behind one of the galleries where a stream ran, and I could sit in silence while I mulled over the thought of living alone. Each stolen bite of that sandwich brought me closer to a sense of myself reminding me of all the cold-cut meals I had consumed as a child. When the last crumb was finished, and I had licked the last drop of dressing from my fingers, I would go back to the place I called home, knowing full well that it would just be a matter of days before I returned to the same spot.

Preparing dinner, in those years, wasnt a simple as braking open a bag, or defrosting a pot pie. We had no freezer compartment in the four foot high GE that was packed with containers and bags from the food co-op. A big bag of carrots for juicing was always on the bottom shelf, and bags of exotic flours stuffed the middle ones. We did eat well, though. Every night there was a variation on a tofu dish with fresh vegetables from our garden. I became quite proficient at cooking with soybean curd, and one year entered the local tofu cook-off. My non-fish version of Gefilte, aptly named Gefilte-Fu took first prize and brought home Mollie Katzdens bible to vegetarianism The Moosewood Cookbook. Oh, how I adored that book! Twenty-five years later, its soy sauce stained pages crammed with additional index cards with recipes like lentil loaf and mock salmon salad still sits on my bookshelf.

We lived a simple life with four dogs, a cat, and a semi-permanent resident who slept in his old VW bus. I cant tell you his name because he didnt go by one. No Name was the moniker that some folks referred to him. I just called him Doctor, bestowing the title half out of respect for his age, which was somewhere around middle age, and half because of my perception of his spiritual knowledge. He viewed himself as a Yogicelibate, and living a life of renunciation. His constant presence in our 200 square foot cabin, though, was a blessing and a curse. At best he was a mentor who challenged the presumptions of my middle-class upbringing, and at worst, a drain on my food stamp allotment.

There was no door on the bathroom. In fact, the toilet and bathtub were in the kitchen. So I learned quickly how to shed excess modesty or did my business when the cabin was vacant. Doctor likened himself to Richard Alpert, who through education and doses of LSD, had had a spiritual awakening, and as a phoenix rising from the ashes of his former self, emerged as Ram Das. We dosed ourselves many times in those years with the psychedelic sacrament and each trip had a meaningful lesson. The long hours of meditation and mind expanding thought were always followed by a broth of root vegetables, which I had prepared the previous night.

The Doctor and I once hitchhiked together to a Rainbow Family Gathering in the Blue Hill Mountains of West Virginia. We each ran around naked for a week, were fed curried goulash by the Hare Krishna Kitchen, and played drums until the early morning hours. I learned how to make whole wheat japatis from The Sufi Kitchen, and took instruction on meditating with a pyramid on top of my head. I saw the Doctor get in the sack one night with a young hippie girl. After that my impressions of him were never quite the same. I packed up my sleeping bag and hitched home to Woodstock alone.

The T-shirt that I wore till it was thread bare and read World Peace through Vegetarianism has long since become a canvas for someones art project. My kids most requested meal is meatloaf, and my partner will only consume tofu when it is camouflaged with other vegetables in Asian hot and sour soup. I still go to the health food store and buy marinated tofu salad, but its the one container that could sit in the fridge without the risk of being ransacked as a midnight munchie by my carnivorous family.

Lentil Loaf

1 cup green lentils cup barley4 cup water1 teaspoon sea salt1 cup bread crumbs or cracker crumbs1 clove garlic, minced1 medium onion, minced1 rib celery, sliced thinly2 eggs, beaten⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. Add lentils and barley to boiling salted water. Allow to boil for a minute, then reduce heat and simmer with a lid ajar for about 40 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed. Remove from heat.

2. Add bread or cracker crumbs along with remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Place mixture in a well oiled 9×5x3 inch loaf pan.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 35 minutes.

5. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before inverting over a platter to serve.

Serves six to eight.

Marti Ladd is the cookbook author and food product designer of “The Recipe Company”. See her media kit at http://www.martiladd.com or visit her virtual coobook store at http://www.ecookbookstore.com

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Money has been the constant source of heartache since the time the concept of earning was invented. With the passage of time, this commodity and its management has caused more problems than one can imagine. To maintain a constant healthy level of finances, one must master the skills of Money Management, to keep the correct balance between inflow an...

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What Affects Your Credit Rating

Post on Aug 31st 2008

A credit rating is one of those things that everyone will acquire whether they want one or not. Its almost impossible to go through life without any form of credit. In fact, I would go so far as to say it is impossible. Your credit rating first appears the first time you apply for credit. Of course its possible that youre one of the small minority that has never applied for a mortgage, or loan, or credit card but you would me amazed at who exactly will perform a credit check on you.

If youve ever set up a phone line with BT, applied for a mobile phone, even rented a property, then you will have a credit record. Of course, having a credit record is not a bad thing, however just as someone can have an excellent credit record, then they can have a poor one.

Having an excellent credit record is easy in theory. Firstly, you need to be paid regularly, and a decent amount too, but the main thing is that there are regular payments going into your bank account.

Secondly you need to have been living at your current address long enough to get onto the electoral roll. This can take anything up to a couple of years preferably as the owner of the property

Thirdly, you need to have been in your current well paying job for a long period. Lenders like to know that you have a steady stream of money coming in, and if youve chopped and changed your job, been unemployed for a while or are even self employed, it will affect your credit record.

Now, heres the most important thing and again its quite simple in theory. You must without fail pay all of your commitments on time and at the amount agreed. If you skip a payment, are late with a payment or cant afford to pay the whole amount agreed then quite simply, whether you like it or not, it will affect your credit history.

Manage all that and your credit history will be perfect. However, its unlikely that anybody unless they are very wealthy, never move with a perfect high paying job will be able to manage it. Life causes priorities and if it is a choice of feeding your children and skipping a credit card payment, or making the payment and seeing your children go hungry, then I do not think that there is a parent in the world that will make that payment.

So, your credit record is a little bit worn round the edges, all is not lost. There are a number of lenders who specialises in sorting out loans for people just like you. Unfortunately because of your credit record, the interest rate you pay may be higher than the most competitive on the market. However, if you service your loan correctly, this will be recorded with credit reference agencies such as Experian or Equifax and will go some way to repairing your credit record.

Jim Seward writes for Consolidate UK who offer debt consolidation loans to those struggling with their monthly payments. They also offer helpful tools

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Debt Consolidation Loans - Prune The Repayment Burden

Post on Aug 31st 2008

When there are debts in your name, make efforts to get rid of them as early as possible. Otherwise, you may be in a financial mess. Often, people take out debt consolidation loan as a solution to the problem. However, take the loan with utmost care, if you do not want to fall into another debt trap.

You can take out these loans to pay off all the balance payments towards your unsecured loans, credit cards, departmental cards and other bills. Then, you have to make single monthly payments towards the new loan. In other words, while you have paid off all the remaining payments in your name, still all those payments are intact in the form of the new loan. However, the advantage is that you do not have to make high monthly payments. Instead, you make single low monthly payments to the one lender only. Another advantage that is usually associated with these loans is that your monthly outgoings come down substantially as you get the new loan at lower rate than the rate on the past loans.

In order to take out debt consolidation loans at lower interest rate, you should prefer pledging your home or any valued asset as collateral. However, your credit history should also be perfect for the low rate loan. Depending on your balance payments and property value, you can borrow greater amount under these loans. Its repayment duration ranges up to 25 years. However, try to repay the loan in short duration to avoid high interest payments.

For tenants, these loans come in unsecured option as well. Such a loan is accessible without any security offer to the lender. Therefore, interest rate will be little higher. You can borrow smaller amount of up to 25000 for 5 to 15 years, under these loans.

For bad credit history people, taking out these loans against some property is easy. However, the unsecured loan may require them to prove their adequate repayment ability through various documents. Interest rate may go higher for these people.

Make good comparison of various debt consolidation loans offers. Apply for the rate quotes of these loans to make a fruitful comparison. Ensure that you repay the loan installments on time to avoid any debt accumulation.

Ben Gannon is a senior financial analyst at Secured Consolidation Loans with an acumen for business and loans. To find Debt Consolidation Loans, bad credit debt consolidation loans, debt management that best suits your need visit http://www.securedconsolidationloans.co.uk/

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Why Is Good Telephone Customer Service So Hard To Find?

Post on Aug 31st 2008

Have you ever tried to call up for customer support in the middle of the night? How about just in the middle of the day. You will be of excellent luck if after a long wait you find that the person on the other end of the phone will speak English in a way that can be well understood. Usually you will get someone with a heavy accent that can not speak English well enough that you do not want to reach through the phone and slap them silly. I know that I want to do that from time to time. How about right now, try calling Dell technical support. I dare you. Do you want to talk to Steve that sounds more like a character that works at the Kwiki Mart then a person that is there supposedly to help you? That would certainly make for a less that progressive method to get your issues completed.

But in that you have no guarantee to be sure. There are many companies that are worshipping only the decrease in costs that taking support services overseas will net you. But while there is a cost savings, it is at the cost of customer satisfaction. That satisfaction decreases in direct proportion to how long it takes to get an issue dealt with as well as the frustration level of the poor customer that has to make the call.

While there are more and more companies that are seeing overseas as a success move, and while I can agree we are getting to become more of a global community, the fact is I would like to be able to speak in my home language when I need to check my checking account or to get my Dell computer to boot up properly. These are things that are not continuing.

Yes I can see the cost savings, but if it is at the cost of customer satisfaction the cost savings are more than erased. That is something that everyone can see if they just look at it the proper way. It is not always easy to look at it that way, because corporations have to see to the riches of their stockholders. But some people need to say stop and look at the effect that giving sub-standard services is not the way to make happy customers. On thing your standard CEO and CFO do understands is that a lack of happy customers will lead to less customers. It is ten times harder to get a new customer then to keep the one they already have. And it is many times harder to get back a customer that has left with dissatisfaction in their hearts.

As a computer expert, I find that there are few times that I need to turn to any company for assistance with getting them to work the way I want them to work. This is something that I have been blessed with, for work, when not writing. I often assist technical support issues. I can hear in the voices of the customers how they get frustrated, and I can hear it in my own when I take up the call for when I am in need of assistance. It is human nature I am sure, but why make it harder if we do not have to make it so?

Add to this communications issues, and a simple problem becomes severe. Sure it is more expensive to create customer and technical support structures domestically, but at the same time, it is better for the customer involved. If for one would not have a job here in the states if my company had decided to outsource their technical support team. But the cost is still not as much, because we can be taught far easier with management right in the same building at the rest of the team. In the case of my international company, most of the company is in New York City. We need to me there or be close to there or we can not serve them well. We have all these people that work with us that are not trained as technical computer specialists. That is not their job, instead that is our job.

In the end, we need to serve the needs of the customers, because if we do not serve them, we just will not have them any more.

Thank you

TRGillette
Just4Everything.com
Where you can see information on many different things. The collection of articles there grows every day, just come and have a look. The anime page is the one I am using for the main page, but that changes every so often.
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The Possible Causes That Bring On A Migraine

Post on Aug 31st 2008

The cause of the pain has not definitely been pinpointed to any factor, but research has shown that blood vessels in some parts of the brain can go into a spasm. This would account for the aura. When the blood vessels dilate after this spasm, and then return to normal again, could be the cause of the severe pain.

More and more medical practitioners are coming to the conclusion that this is not a disease of the blood vessels but is primarily neurological as many sufferers report a sore tenderness in the area where the pain was. This can last a few days after the attack.

Some others report a sense of lack of concentration for days after a bad attack of migraine. This would point to it being neurological.

This side effect cannot be caused by blood vessels going into a spasm.

Research is constantly on the go so there is sure to be more light thrown on the subject in the near future. At some stage the medical world thought this disease to be more an emotional disease but research is beginning to reveal that it is a neurological disease.

Some researchers think these headaches could be brought on by increased activity of certain chemicals in the brain. This would bring us to the question of what triggers off this increased activity of chemicals?

There is the possibility of genes playing a part and that would then make you more prone to being a sufferer of migraine.

This has not been proven but there is a growing understanding of genetic causes and this could be a breakthrough in the near future.

There are many cases were a couple of members of one family suffer from this disease which does seen to point to the fact that genetics could have an influence on the sufferers.

Most doctors believe that migraine is caused by stress in one form or another or something in the diet could trigger it off.

Dairy products, caffeine, red wine, chocolate and citrus fruits are some of the foods that are thought to be culprits.

Many people suffer migraine as a result of glaring or flickering lights or very loud noises. Anxiety and stress of any sort or becoming over tired can all be factors that contribute to an attack.

Change in the hormones in women during menopause and of those just before the commencement of their menstrual cycle could also be the cause of triggering off these debilitating headaches.

Many women find that these headaches disappear during pregnancy, while others only start having headaches when they are pregnant.

Many women taking oral contraceptives also experience migraine attacks.

It might be a good idea to keep a record of your menstrual cycles and at what stage a headache sets in. After a couple of months you could possibly discover whether your attacks are indeed induced by your menstrual cycle or not.

There are many women who are only affected by headaches when they reach menopause. Research has not revealed what these natural hormones have to do with migraine.

There is a school of thought that is of the opinion that migraine can be linked to estrogen levels in a woman. As the estrogen level drops before a woman has her period this could trigger off migraine in some women.

This author writes informative articles on various subjects.

http://www.curemigrainesnow.com

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