Seed Cycling To Regulate Your Hormones

From missing and irregular periods in our teenage years all the way through to our menopausal years, hormonal imbalances affect women of all ages. Symptoms you may experience as a result of a hormonal imbalance are: infertility, spotting or heavy bleeding, fatigue, mood swings, hair loss, and weight gain.

As healthcare practitioners we often recommend changes to your diet along with certain supplements. One easy to implement protocol, and truthfully, a great starting point if you are experiencing hormonal imbalances, is something called “Seed Cycling”.

Seed Cycling is meant to bring balance to your estrogen and progesterone levels. It does so by introducing the correct ratios of hormone influencing nutrients at the appropriate time of your cycle by eating different and specific seeds. Seed cycling can be conveniently and safely integrated into your day to day routine.

Before getting into what seeds you should eat and when, we would like to bring attention to the terms “Menstrual Cycle” and “Moon Cycle”.

Menstrual Cycle vs Moon Cycle

A woman’s menstrual cycle are the days in which she bleeds and experiences her “period”. It is believed that in our primitive days a woman’s menstrual cycle would begin and align with the new moon and that ovulation would align with the full moon.

This alignment with the moon is what is referred to as the Moon Cycle. When a woman’s menstrual cycle does in fact align with the moon cycle as just mentioned, it is termed a White Moon Cycle, whereas women whose first day of their menstrual cycle starts on the full moon (opposed to the new moon) will refer to it as a Red Moon Cycle. Needless to say, many women these days do not align with the moon cycles and some would argue the moon cycles are not related to our menses at all.

For the purpose of Seed Cycling, we like the idea of using the moon to regulate your periods. This can be especially helpful for those who do not have any idea when their periods will begin, and therefore, have no day to call “day 1”.

If you have a regular cycle and can predict your Day 1, you can rely on your own Menstrual Cycle and ignore the Moon cycle.

How To Begin Seed Cycling

We first need to help you identify the two parts of your cycle. For simplicity's sake we will call it First Cycle and Second Cycle (these are your follicular and luteal phases respectively).

Your First Cycle

• Begins on the first day of your period and lasts for 14 days

  • If you don’t have a period or it’s irregular, it will begin on the new moon and last until the full moon

Your Second Cycle

• Begins on day 15 and lasts the next 14 days or until your period starts again (your new day 1)

  • If you don’t have a period or it’s irregular, it will begin on the day of the full moon and end on the next new moon.

     

During these cycles we will be Incorporating four high nutrient rich seeds as follows:

Seeds With First Cycle:

• Consume 1 tablespoon of freshly ground flax seed, daily.

• Consume 1 tablespoon of freshly ground pumpkin seed, daily.

Now change to...

Seeds With Second Cycle:

• Consume 1 tablespoon of freshly ground sunflower seed, daily.

Consume 1 tablespoon of freshly ground sesame seed, daily.

Learn The Benefits

Flax Seeds are rich in lignans, an antioxidant-rich plant compound. Lignans are known to be able to increase or decrease the effects of estrogen in the body based on the individual’s need.

Including flax seed in your diet has been also known to decrease breast tenderness that occurs in the days leading up to your period (don’t let this confuse you into eating flax in your second cycle, the benefit will last even after you have switched to the seeds in the second cycle!).

Pumpkin Seeds are high in zinc to support the production of progesterone needed for the second cycle. This helps you prepare to make more progesterone.

Sunflower Seeds are high in selenium and vitamin E that boost progesterone in the second cycle and lead to less PMS symptoms and healthier bleeds (moderate red blood with little clotting) during our periods.

Sesame Seeds contain polyphenols that prevent our bodys from producing too much estrogen. Something often called an “estrogen dominance” picture. When a woman has estrogen dominance they will experience severe PMS and oftentimes very heavy bleeding.
 

Additional benefits!

The best part about this is that there are even more benefits to including these seeds into your diet, such as:

• Increased dietary fibre intake

• Increased healthy fat intake

• Increased vitamins, minerals and antioxidant intake

• Reduce blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure

• Regulated appetite 

Tips

• Buy your flax seeds fresh and whole.

  • Grind them daily.

  • We have found a coffee grinder very effective and easy.

• Store in an airtight container in the freezer or refrigerator.

•  Throw them in smoothies

• Top off your yogurt

• Sprinkle on avocado toast

• Throw them on top of your salad

• Eat them with your cereal

We hope this helps you find resolution of symptoms & better hormonal (and digestive) health! If you’re still experiencing unmanageable symptoms after a trial of seed cycling, book an appointment to explore your hormones more in depth. We require a healthy level of cortisol, thyroid hormone, and specific vitamins to achieve hormone balance sustainably! Exploration of these things could be the missing pieces to your success.

Your EASTND Team!