LMents of Style uses affiliate links. By clicking on certain hyperlinks and buying a product, you may help me make a small commission from your purchase. It's links like these that keep this site going. Thank you for your support!

Today I’m finally going to cover the topic of seed cycling! I first mentioned it in January 2019, but started it back in December 2018. It was really tempting to try and cover it before now, but I wanted to have cycled for at least a year so I could speak to actually living and breathing it, you know? I have been begging my mom and sister to do it, but they are like once you post, I’ll look into it. Listen, seed cycling can help you whether you are menopausal, on birth control, or just trying to regulate. Seed cycling is essentially practicing the “food is medicine” mentality. Even if you don’t think it will help or you don’t see any changes (note you need to do it for at least 3 cycles to begin to see benefits), at the very least, it isn’t expensive and it is literally just food. Plus, these seeds are filled with vitamin e, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, selenium and so much more goodness, WHAT CAN IT POSSIBLY HURT? So here are all the details!

NOTE: I’m not a doctor. Please see a physician and talk about your cycle. This is what I like to do, but every body is different!

WHAT IS SEED CYCLING?

Seed cycling is eating specific nutrients to aid your body in each phase of the menstrual cycle. During the menstrual cycle you have the follicular phase (first! both start with F, so that is how I remember it), which starts with your period and ends with ovulation. During this phase, your estrogen levels rise and your progesterone levels drop. You eat pumpkin and flax seeds during this phase, as they have naturally occurring zinc and antioxidants, which help produce healthy amounts of testosterone, protect your reproductive organs, and more. Flax seeds specifically can also help with excess estrogen elimination!

Next is the luteal phase (last! both start with L, so that is how I remember it), which begins after ovulation and ends when you start your period. During this phase, your estrogen levels rise and your progesterone levels drop. During this phase you consume sunflower and sesame seeds, as they have naturally occurring nutrients like iron and magnesium. These support healthy prostaglandin levels, in addition to calcium levels and can boost moods, and lower inflammation.

Basically, when you seed cycle, you are trying to even the rises and falls of estrogen and progesterone out, which can help your mood, pms symptoms, cramps, and more!

what is seed cycling and why do it, lments of style, ellemulenos, la blogger, hormonal health, balance and regulate periods, benefits

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SEED CYCLING?

Balance hormones
Better sleep
Boost fertility
Decrease mood swings
Help with conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, etc
Lower or even eradicate PMS symptoms (cramps, acne, etc)
Regulate cycle (even bring back absent periods!)

If you want to read about SCIENCE behind these benefits, click here.

WHAT KIND OF SEEDS DO YOU USE TO SEED CYCLE?

Raw Organic Pumpkin Seeds
Raw Organic Flax Seeds (golden or regular work! - you will grind these to consume)
Raw Organic Sunflower Seeds
Raw Organic Sesame Seeds (you will grind these to consume)

I typically buy all my seeds from Now Foods, because they have the exact kinds I want. I like to buy their essential oils for my diffusers as well!

I specified all those, because you don’t want toasted, salted, or pre-ground. Don’t buy tahini instead of sesame seeds, though you can make your own non-toasted sesame seeds ;) You can eat the sunflower and pumpkin seeds as is, but you need to grind flax and sesame seeds. They are too small for your body to break down otherwise. If you want to pre-grind, you can do so and just put them in your freezer, to help them maintain nutrients. That’s the whole reason you don’t want to buy pre-ground. Seeds are sensitive matter and can lose their benefits from light, heat, and more. Grinding them yourself ensures you can keep the goodness in! It is recommended to keep all the seeds in you fridge, especially if there’s a lot of heat and light in your kitchen.

I use this grinder for my flax and sesame seeds. I typically grind fresh daily, but if I know I’m going to be busy, I will often times pre-grind them the night before. Pre-grinding is a great way to make sure you do it though, as it is literally ready for you. Most of the time, I just eat mine with a spoon (1 tablespoon of each kind, so 2 TBS total), but I’ll share some other ways to eat yours later.

HOW TO SEED CYCLE:

1 TBS ground flax and 1 TBS pumpkin seeds for the first half of your cycle
1 TBS ground sesame and 1 TBS sunflower seeds for the second half of your cycle

You need to be tracking your cycle. If you’re on hormonal birth control, you can literally just do 1 TBS ground flax and 1 TBS pumpkin seeds for the first 14 days and then 1 TBS ground sesame and 1 TBS sunflower seeds for the last 14 days. You don’t have a real period, so you are going to follow the set cycle.

If you aren’t on birth control, you need to be tracking your period. I will get more into this at another time, but I use the Kindara app and the Winc tracker. I’ve heard Daysy is a good tracker too. If you aren’t sure where to begin, I highly recommend reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility, so you can learn things that they don’t teach in school, but should ;) It is a big book, but you really only need to read the first half if you aren’t trying to get pregnant. My point with all this is that everyone’s cycles are not a “normal 28 day cycle”, so you shouldn’t really follow a 14 days of this and a 14 days of that kind of drill. I track based on knowing my body (been doing this for a year now), taking my temperature, and well, discharge. (Not sure I ever thought I’d talk about that on my blog ;) ) To put it quite simply, use 1 TBS ground flax and 1 TBS pumpkin seeds daily until you ovulate. After you ovulate, switch to 1 TBS ground sesame and 1 TBS sunflower seeds. If you mess up, it’s literally just food, so it shouldn’t hurt anything. You can also use the seeds to your advantage! Say you have a really short luteal cycle (which needs to be longer if you are trying to conceive), you can continue taking 1 TBS ground sesame and 1 TBS sunflower seeds for at least 10-12 days even if it goes into when you start your period, to try and train your body to staying in that phase longer.

If you are pregnant, obviously chat with your doctor, but it’s basically one long luteal phase, so sesame and sunflower seeds should be super beneficial! But of course flax and pumpkin seeds are good for you too… I wouldn’t avoid those specifically or anything.

If you are in menopause, you can literally just follow the moon cycle - from new moon to full moon take 1 TBS ground flax and 1 TBS pumpkin seeds and from full moon to new moon, switch to 1 TBS sunflower and 1 TBS ground sesame seeds! Our periods used to sync with the moon, before we started intervening - I know I always get excited when I perfectly sync up! If you don’t want to follow the moon’s cycle, just alternate every 2 weeks.

HOW DO YOU TRAVEL AND SEED CYCLE?

This is harder, but I’ve done it. I’ll pre-grind and measure out the seeds I need in daily baggies or just do a couple bulk bags depending where I’m at in my cycle and just bring a tablespoon to measure it out with. It’s easier to travel with just the non-ground seeds. Over Christmas I pre-bagged and ground my seeds and then LEFT THEM IN OUR FRIDGE AT HOME. I was so annoyed with myself. I went to the store and just bought pumpkin seeds and ate 2 TBS of those daily and called it a day. It’s not something to stress yourself out over, so just do your best!

DOES SEED CYCLING ACTUALLY WORK?

This question is why I wanted to try it for at least a year! So, I started seed cycling before I quit hormonal birth control. I began almost 2 months before stopping, so I hopefully wouldn’t feel a difference! Around last fall things got really crazy and I stopped seed cycling regularly. Not on purpose, but with travel and moving, it just kind of happened. I don’t think the stress of moving helped, but around this time is when my acne started flaring. I think I broke out for a lot of reasons, but I can say that when I started cycling regularly again, my skin started to calm down. Because it’s supposed to help regulate hormones, I do believe that helps me for the better. So yes, I think it works!

EASY WAYS TO GET YOUR SEEDS IN

Put them in a smoothie
Toss them on a salad
Dip a banana in them
Mix them in yogurt
Eat them with spoon (what I typically do)
Create a raw dip
Make seed bites (like protein balls)

There are pre-made seed cycling cookies and balls, etc, but they are SO EXPENSIVE. You are honestly better off making them / doing them yourself.

I know this was a lot of information, but I hope you liked it! I do plan on talking about adult acne, getting off of birth control, using my winc tracker, and more! I love bringing you information that can help change your life. Not that a pair of boots can’t do that ;) but you know what I mean. Your health is priceless!! I have loved seed cycling and thought sometimes it might be annoying, I truly do think it is worth it! I was really sad when I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis earlier this year, as I thought I couldn’t eat seeds anymore. For now, my diet is okay to stay the same though, so I am good. Hopefully the medication I am on works and I don’t need any further testing or assistance. Thanks so much for reading and good luck on your own personal health journey!!

RESOURCES

Dr. Jolene Brighten is amazing and has truly changed the way I see the menstrual cycle. You should 100% follow her on instagram. Her website is a wealth of knowledge. I also have her book Beyond the Pill which is fantastic. If you want to know more about seed cycling from her perspective AND SCIENCE, click here. She is a functional medicine naturopathic doctor, but started out as a “regular” doctor as we would call it, so she has the entire background of our physicians, plus more eastern medicine techniques as well. Best of both worlds! She isn’t anti-birth control, just pro-knowledge…something I don’t think I had when I started “the pill” over 10 years ago. For the record I love my gyno ;)

Taking Charge of Your Fertility

Nicole Jardim, The Period Girl

SOME SOURCES YOU MAY KNOW TALKING ABOUT SEED CYCLING

Snap Kitchen and Seed Cycling for Hormone Health

Minimalist Baker and Seed Cycling Mixes

Joy the Baker Seed Cycling Ball

P.S. If you liked this post, you’ll probably enjoy these:

Why I’m taking prenatal vitamins

My thoughts on menstrual cups

Thinx Period Underwear Review

Organic Cotton Tampons