Seed Cycling for Regulating Your Menstrual Hormones (and Period)

Seed Cycling for Regulating Your Menstrual Hormones (and Period)

We have over 50 hormones that travel throughout our body. They act as chemical messengers that help to coordinate a variety of very complex processes such as growth, metabolism, immunity, sleep cycles, and fertility, among others. In fact, before we are even formed inside our mother’s belly, certain hormones are required to help develop our brain and central nervous system. How cool is that?

For the purposes of this blog, I want to focus on the female sex hormones, specifically, and one unique remedy for helping to regulate the constant shift of hormones throughout our cycle. 

The delicate balance of the female sex hormones shift and cycle throughout our lives, and also throughout the month, relating to our menstrual cycle. Hormonal imbalances can be a result of pre-existing medical conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), birth control or hormone replacement medications, menopause, and ovarian cancer to name a few. They can also be a result of daily life choices such as poor diet, excess stress or irregular sleep patterns. Environmental toxins like air pollution or the chemicals in our at-home cleaning products can play a role in hormonal irregularities too.

When our hormones are out of balance, we can experience symptoms like irregular or heavy periods, hot flashes, breast tenderness, indigestion, weight gain, acne, thinning hair, constipation or diarrhea, infertility, and much more.

I know many women who have experienced one or more of the symptoms listed above and have struggled to find their own balance. In fact, it’s not uncommon to set off on a mission to regulate your hormones and realize that the journey is going to be a long and seemingly tedious one. My own personal road to balancing my sex hormones (after being on the birth control pill for nearly 15 years) has taken me upwards of 5 years to regulate. While I’ve made significant strides in the right direction, I’m still not officially at my final destination. As delicate as our hormone balancing can be (especially as females), I may never be! Afterall it’s a constant recalibration process; but at least now, I’m at a point where I can surf the waves a bit better.

One naturopathic tactic that I’ve used - over the past year especially - is called “Seed Cycling.” It is a practice that was originally brought to my attention by my personal Naturopathic Doctor. Whether you already have a regular menstrual cycle, or if you are looking to help regulate yours, or even to help alleviate some of the negative symptoms of your period or of menopause, this is a safe and easy strategy that might just bring the healthy benefits (and relief) you’ve been looking for!

The process requires that you cycle through four different seeds – pumpkin, flax, sunflower and sesame – at specific points during your menstrual cycle. This remedy is aimed at helping to balance estrogen during the first half of your menstrual cycle and progesterone during the second half.

Here’s what to do:

Day 1 -> Day 14: Eat 1 Tbsp of pumpkin seeds and 1 Tbsp of ground flaxseeds each day

·      Day 1 is indicated by the first day of your period. Continue for 14 days.

Day 15 -> Day 28: Eat 1 Tbsp of sunflower seeds and 1 Tbsp of sesame seeds each day

·      If your cycle runs longer than 28 days, continue this stage of the process until you get your period again. Then switch.

Note: if you are not having a period at all, or if you are very irregular, follow the above steps by using the phases of the moon as your guide until your own cycle begins to regulate. Day 1 would begin on the New Moon.

 So how does this work exactly?

For the first 14 days of a regular menstrual cycle, which is called the Follicular phase, estrogen is produced in order to prime and ripen the eggs in our ovaries. Levels of estrogen will increase just before ovulation, then they will drop soon after.

After the egg has been released, which generally occurs on or around day 14, this marks the start of our Luteal phase. During Luteal, progesterone and estrogen levels are supposed to gradually increase together to support conception and implantation. However, if there is no fertilization, and therefore no conception, then both hormones drop back down before the next period.

Adding flaxseeds during the Follicular phase can help to increase or decrease estrogen levels as needed inside our body. Flaxseeds contain what we call “phytoestrogens” which are compounds that can mimic the action of estrogen in our body. Additionally, pumpkin seeds are a good source of zinc, which helps to promote the production of progesterone in preparation for the next phase.

During the Luteal phase, sesame seeds help to limit our estrogen levels from increasing too much. And sunflower seeds are rich in vitamin E, which is known to boost the production of progesterone in the body.

Is this for you?

If you are a science whiz like me, you won’t find a ton of scientific evidence supporting the theories behind seed cycling – at least not as a one-stop-shop for solving all your hormones. However, there have been studies linking phytoestrogens to the potential regulation of estrogen, as well as the benefits of flaxseeds on improved cycle regularity. Not to mention, foods high in zinc and vitamin E (like these seeds are rich in) are widely known to be good for overall reproductive health.

My opinion is that if your body can tolerate seeds, they are rich in nutrients that we could all use in our diets anyway. If the potential benefits of this specific cycle of seeds could help your cycle, then why not? There isn’t much of a downside, and it could give you some new insight into your body too.

Don’t forget that hormone balancing is largely related to diet and lifestyle as well. Eating a diet rich in whole grains, legumes, vegetables, some lean proteins and healthy fats is optimal. Getting regular exercise, drinking adequate water, getting plenty of sleep, and managing stress levels is too. Stay away from refined sugars, processed foods, saturated fats and too much animal proteins. This is all part of a balanced diet anyways, and can help your hormone regulation too.