Let us find out everything about a new growing trend of nutrition practice known as seed cycling. This practice claims to balance female hormones, and other hormone-related symptoms, including PCOS, PMS, hot flashes, irregular menstruation, etc. In short, seed cycling can prevent any hormonal imbalance. Moreover, as per the latest revelations, seed cycling can also help you to get pregnant.
Though this seed cycling is not new, it has been practiced for a long time as there is no such risk. Variations in hormones can greatly impact the menstrual cycle, resulting in hair growth symptoms, changes in weight, acne, and even infertility. Most people seek hormonal birth control to control these symptoms. In this article, you will get a clear knowledge about everything related to seed cycling so that you can also reap the amazing benefits of eating seeds.
In This Article
- What Is Seed Cycling?
- What Are The Benefits Of Seed Cycling?
- How Seed Cycling Helps Fertility?
- What Is The Seed Cycling Myth?
- How To Eat Seeds Daily?
- Nutrients Present In Seeds
- Before You Start Seed Cycling, Do This!
What Is Seed Cycling?
Seed cycling is a natural medicine treatment that maintains the balance of hormones by synchronizing the hormone estrogen in the beginning half of the menstrual cycle and the hormone progesterone in the end half of menstruation.
The basic idea behind seed cycling is to use certain types of seeds such as flax, pumpkin, chia, and to improve the level of estrogen and progesterone. Consuming various seeds can repeatedly sustain symptoms related to hormones like PCOS, PMS, hot flashes, and irregular menstruation and result in good health.
The most common way to educate women is to eat one or two tablespoons of fresh ground seeds such as pumpkin seeds, flax, chia, etc., every day. You can also mix the fresh ground seeds in your smoothie or just by adding seeds to your healthy breakfast.
The menstrual cycle is divided into two stages or phases. The first stage is from the 1st to 14th day of your period known as the follicular stage or phase. And the second stage is from the 15th to the 28th day of right after your ovulation.
In phase first: which is from 1 to 14 days (first two weeks), you should eat one tablespoon of pumpkin and ground flax seeds.
In phase second: which is from the last 15 to 28 days (lasts two weeks), you should replace pumpkin seeds with sesame and sunflower seeds. It will add fat, protein, calories, and fiber to your body every day.
What Are The Benefits of Seed Cycling?
Seed cycling helps to support and improve hormonal balance in females. The best part about seed cycling is that it is beneficial for any woman at different stages of her life. If a woman is going through the process of coming back to hormonal birth control to get back to her natural cycle, they should switch to this natural process. Many women struggle with hormonal disbalance symptoms, which result in irregular menstruation, acne, weight loss or gain, and other hormone-related symptoms.
Scientists suggest and support the seed cycling benefits that are present in pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seeds to perform seed cycling for hormone balance.
Here are some of the noteworthy seed cycling benefits.
- According to scientific research, it has been proved that flax seeds can help in increasing the second stage, that is the luteal phase or stage. It will improve ovulation.
- Additionally, seed cycling will improve and reduce the usual premenstrual symptoms like cramping, breast pain, and back pain.
- According to the research studies, it also came out that vitamin E and Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids in flax, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds are important for hormone production and the function of follicles.
- Moreover, Omega 3 fatty acids have been found directly effective in increasing progesterone secretion.
- Pumpkin and sesame seeds have a high concentration of zinc, which helps to improve corpus luteum formation.
- There is a presence of selenium minerals in sunflower seeds that supports quick detoxification in women’s liver hormones.
How Seed Cycling Helps Fertility?
Seed cycling for fertility means eating those seeds during two phases of the biological cycle, that is the follicular stage or phase and luteal stage. These seeds are natural supplements that are being used to promote healthy hormones in the women’s bodies. The four important seeds are sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and last but not least pumpkin seeds.
In the first phase of a women’s biological cycle, the estrogen is high. This phase starts from the first day of your menstruation and continues at the time of ovulation. Because your estrogen is high, it results in eggs ready for ovulation. So, using seed cycling for fertility will help you improve estrogen levels during the first phase of the cycle.
In the second phase of women’s biological cycle, progesterone is on the verge to rise. These days come after the first phase, after the ovulation process resulting in your menstruation. In this phase, your body is looking for the egg to get fertilized as progesterone increases in your body. So, seeds will help you improve progesterone levels during the second phase of the cycle.
In Case Your Cycle Isn’t 28 Days
A lot of women don’t have a cycle of 28 days. You must be knowledgeable about your menstruation cycle. It can be possible that your menstruation cycle is 30 days. So, in this case, you need to adjust your stages of eating fresh ground seeds. If your cycle is 30 days, you can do the first 15 days for one stage and the rest of 15 days for the second phase.
Also, most of the women face regular periods. Those women can also take advantage of seed cycling. Just simply start from the first day, that is the follicular stage, continue it for 14 to 15 days and then change the seeds for the rest of the days.
What Is The Seed Cycling Myth?
Hormonal imbalances are now becoming more common in females of almost all ages. As we all know, hormones are really important and especially those hormones which affect the reproductive system.
Many things affect hormones and result in hormone imbalance like toxins in the environment, hair loss, poor diet, body pain, constant mood swings, difficulty in sleeping and acne are all symptoms of imbalanced hormones.
Women take a lot of stress and don’t even want to go to a gynecologist for a consultation about their irregular menstruation cycle and reproductive system. You can go for a blood test to know the levels of sex hormones so that a gynecologist can diagnose the problem with your hormones, but this process is quite complicated and expensive at the same time.
Seed cycling for hormone balance is an easy and cheap solution that has been trending all over the world. Every woman wants their menstruation cycle to go on time. Seed cycling acts as a perfect natural supplement that will help you to improve your hormone levels.
We all know that everything has its own side effects. And this is the reason some people get worried about certain seed cycling myths. For example, there is unnecessary stress about the side effects of using it for eating seeds. In fact, seed cycling has not shown any significant side effects of eating seeds.
The only seed cycling side effect is that it doesn’t work to improve your hormonal imbalance or menstruation cycle at all in some cases. But still, your body will get enough extra nutrients as these seeds are off of fiber, fat, protein, and calories. So, even if it doesn’t work to improve your hormonal balance, it can do a great job in improving your muscles.
Also, many women use or take contraceptive pills which results in them stopping ovulating for a long time so, in those women, seed cycling possibly doesn’t work.
For those women who have irregular periods or imbalance in hormones for a long time, seed cycling is not likely to be an effective process for improving their imbalance symptoms. So, you need to understand that it’s not about seed cycling side effects, it’s about your condition on which this seed can work or not.
How To Eat Seeds Daily?
Basically, seed cycling recipes are best when used with fresh raw seeds. But you can grind the seed to increase the amount for absorption. Though there are various ways or processes in which you can eat fresh seeds. For example, you can grind your fresh pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds for use as seed butter so that you can enjoy the flavor in breakfast while eating with toast or bun. Likewise, there are other seed cycling recipes listed below.
- Grind seeds to eat with vegetable salad by simply sprinkling freshly ground seeds.
- Also, you can mix those fresh ground seeds with your fruit salad.
- Eat seeds with your oatmeals, cereals, yogurt parfaits, etc.
- You can also include these seeds in your cake or chocolate bars when you are making them.
- Add according to your flavor and acceptance of seeds. One tablespoon of different seeds is enough for the day.
Nutrients Present in Seeds
As mentioned above, seeds are rich in nutrient elements like protein, calories, fats, and vitamins. And the major seeds that are used in seed cycling are sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and flax seeds. So, let’s take a look at the nutritional properties of these major seeds.
1. Zinc
Zinc is present in high concentrations in both pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds. It helps to improve corpus luteum formation and hormone levels. This corpus luteum is also responsible for producing progesterone. So, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds are best to eat during the menstrual cycle as they will help to produce progesterone.
2. Selenium Mineral
A high concentration of selenium mineral is found in sunflower seeds. That is why sunflower seeds help to improve estrogen in women.
3. Lignans
Flax seeds are highly appreciated for phytoestrogens. Flax seeds help to improve and support good estrogen production. Nutritional supplements known as lignans are present in flax seeds which can support the buying of excess estrogen. It is also believed that flax seeds will support the increase of progesterone in the second phase. It means that they will improve ovulation and decrease common hormonal symptoms like cramping back pain and breast pain.
Similarly, sesame seeds are also rich in lignans and block extra estrogen during the second phase of the menstruation cycle at the time when progesterone increases. According to researchers, it is also believed that sesame seeds are beneficial for improving blood lipids and sex hormones.
4. Omega 3,6, and Vitamin E
Flax seeds and pumpkin seeds are highly rich in Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Omega 3 supports blood flow to the uterus and increases the secretion of progesterone. In order to reduce PMS symptoms or PCOS symptoms, Vitamin E plays a major role. Pumpkin sunflower flax seeds are highly rich in Vitamin E and Omega 3 and 6.
Before You Start Seed Cycling, Do This!
Before starting seed cycling in your daily routine, you must know some of the things. For example, you need to understand when and how you should eat seeds and in what amount to improve your hormone balance.
1. Use Ground Seeds
Use a grinding machine to grind your natural fresh seeds. In this way, your body will be able to digest it. Branded seeds can be quickly absorbed into your body cells.
2. Can Eat Raw Seeds
Using raw sales without mixing it with other nutrients can also be beneficial. It will be better to use organic seeds as they will have fewer pesticides and fertilizers elements which can result in hampering your hormones.
3. Store Seeds in Cool Places
In order to keep your fresh seeds, fresh for a longer time, keep them in a dark and cool place. Keep it in the refrigerator or freezer so that your seeds remain enriched with fibers and calories.
4. Follow your Menstrual Cycle
It is one of the most important things that you should keep in mind because you need to rotate the seeds from one phase to 2nd phase.
5. Importance to Your Hormone Balance
Sometimes, hormone imbalance is also because of a poor digestive system, blood sugar, stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, and toxins in the environment. So, if these were the possible reasons for your hormone imbalance, then seed cycling cannot give a full boost to your hormone imbalance. So you must be conscious about your eating pattern, take good sleep, manage your stress level and stay in a good environment.
Seed cycling is, no doubt, one of the great processes of becoming healthy in a cheaper way. It will not only balance your hormone level but can also improve and promote a healthy diet. Moreover, these beneficial seeds also improve blood circulation and reduce the chances of heart diseases, blood pressure levels, blood sugar levels, etc.
