Seed Cycling for Hormonal Health
My hormone struggles
After moving across the country with my partner, losing my dog and beginning a new career as a birth doula, my hormones were incredibly out of balance. We lived with my parents for several months and not eating my normal diet combined with the stress of sorting out my work and home life really disrupted my body's natural rhtythm.
We are planning to try to conceive sometime within the next year or so, and I’ve been charting my cycle using the fertility awareness method to get a good idea of my hormonal fluctuations and ovulation times. You can read more about that here. This helped me see the imbalance in my hormones right on paper (or phone). The first month my basal body temperature was all over the place, so I knew I wasn’t ovulating. The second month, they came back into a bi-phasic pattern so I knoew ovulation was on track but my emotions and sleeping patterns were still disregulated.
I started seeing a naturopath, got some blood work done and made some changes to my diet and lifestyle, which I talk more about in my ebook that will be released soon. I was able to get into a routine, which my mind hates but my body loves. I started to supplement with vitamins and minerals to optimize my hormonal health, and part of this was seed cycling. I know it sounds a little strange, but this is an amazing way to give your body what it needs at different times of the month in order to feed the right hormones.
So What is seed cycling?
All you will need is raw flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame and sunflower. I refrigerate mine in jars to keep them from going rancid and if grinding, I make sure to do that fresh on the the day I'll use them. It's very easy for seeds to go bad or grow mold, and the inflammation this will cause your body does not outweigh the benefits of their nutrition, so always take care to get fresh, organic seeds and keep them refrigerated.
During your Follicular Phase: grind and consume one tablespoon each of flax and pumpkin seeds. You can either add them to a smoothie, salad or even make a nut milk.
- The lignan in flax seeds cleanses excess environmental estrogen (which can come inhibit your natural estrogen production).
- The zinc in pumpkin seeds encourages healthy progesterone in your luteal phase
- Omega three fatty acids make your hormones happy!
The follicular phase of your cycle is from menstruation to ovulation and for most women lasts about 14 days, beginning from the first day of your period. Of course this varies if you have a longer or shorter cycle, which is why the fertility awareness method is so helpful in getting clear on your own unique rhythm.
This is the time when the pituitary gland releases follicle-stimulating hormone to mature eggs to be released at ovulation. Besides FSH, we are rebuilding our estrogen stores after our periods. As estrogen increases this triggers luteinizing hormone to release an egg, but if we have too much estrogen our eggs may be released before they are mature enough.
During your Luteal Phase: grind and consume one tablespoon each of sunflower and sesame seeds, again in smoothies on salads or in nut milk.
- Sesame and sunflower contain omega six fatty acids which encourage progesterone production (crucial for building up the lining of the uterus for fertilization!)
- The selenium in sunflower also supports progesterone production
- Linoleic acid also supports the balance of estrogen and progesterone
The luteal phase occurs from ovulation to menstruation which for many women is day 15 and on, however to find your own unique rhythm, try the fertility awareness method. During the luteal phase the ruptured follicle triggers both estrogen and progesterone to release, which builds up the uterus for a possible pregnancy. The egg generally waits patiently in the fallopian tubes for a few days to be fertilized. If that doesn’t occur or if it doesn’t implant into the uterus, progesterone and estrogen drop and menstruation occurs.
Cycling these seeds through your diet is a great way to give your body the nutrients it needs to balance your hormones without taking extra vitamins. It may take time to notice the changes, but I always go to food first, before herbs and other supplements. I also like to soak my seeds overnight in water. This helps to dissolve phytic acid (a mycotoxin present in most grains and seeds) and also makes the nutrients more bioavailable.
Happy cycling! And leave a comment below or send me any questions you may have!
Sources:
https://theherbalacademy.com/seed-cycling-for-hormonal-balance/
https://www.cycleseeds.com/single-post/2015/10/11/Seed-Cycling-your-way-to-happy-hormones