How to Start Seed Cycling for Painless Periods
If you are looking for a natural approach to balancing your hormones and natural ways you can support your body through each phase of your menstrual cycle, this is for you!
If you’ve been around here a while, you know that I love seed cycling (also known as seed rotation) because it’s such a simple step that you can take to help support your hormones! I mean it’s literally just adding seeds to your diet. it’s not taking things out, it’s not a big expensive supplement, it’s literally just seeds.
I get questions about this all the time, so I want to share with you what seed cycling is, why seed cycling actually works, and how you can start seed cycling for painless periods!
What is seed cycling?
Seed cycling is a natural approach to hormone health that helps support the rise and fall of your hormones. It involves using four different types of seeds (flax, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower) at different phases during your menstrual cycle to support your hormones.
Seed cycling has been shown to benefit PCOS and painful periods because it addresses painful symptoms, like PMS, at the root cause, rather than masking your symptoms.
Why does seed cycling work?
Seed cycling is shown to benefit PCOS and painful periods! When you look at the research done on the nutrients in the seeds, it makes complete sense why seed cycling helps women achieve painless periods! So let’s just take a brief look at the benefits these seeds provide.
First of all, all of these seeds have zinc (pumpkin seeds are especially high in zinc!), which is amazing for immunity, egg quality during ovulation, cervical mucus, progesterone, and overall hormonal support. These seeds also contain magnesium which is shown to help with cramps and is actually a first line treatment for mood disorders (so you can imagine how great this is for that pre-period moodiness!).
All the seeds contain fiber, which supports gut health and helps your body better absorb nutrients. Fiber also helps balance your hormones by binding to estrogen.
And all these seeds contain prebiotic fiber, protein, and fat, so they’re very well balanced, which helps regulate your blood sugar!
Flaxseeds in particular contain Omega 3s, which reduce inflammation and they contain lignans which work as phytoestrogens. Lignans adapt to whatever your body needs. So for example, if you need more estrogen they will help your body produce it, but if you have too much, the lignans will help your body detox the excess estrogen!
Sunflower seeds contain vitamin E, which is directly linked to a general reduction in PMS symptoms and breast tenderness.
How to Start Seed Cycling
Now that you understand what seed cycling is and why it works, you’re probably like, “Leah how do I actually do this?!”
Here are the basics you need to know in order to start seed cycling and achieve painless periods!
Seed cycling splits your cycle into two different phases. The first phase will start with your period and the second phase starts after ovulation.
For the best results, make sure you are tracking your cycle to see exactly when you are ovulating. You might ovulate on day 14 or maybe day 17 of your cycle! An app can’t tell you when you are ovulating, it is just following an algorithm, so it’s important to track your full cycle yourself!
If you have never tracked your full cycle before, you can learn how to track it here.
During the first half of your cycle, starting with the first day of your period, you will consume 1 TBS of pumpkin seeds and 1 TBS of flaxseeds a day.
The second half of your cycle starts with the luteal phase, once your ovulation ends (typically around day 15 of your menstrual cycle).
You will take 1 TBS of sesame seeds and 1 TBS of sunflower seeds each day of this phase. These seeds are high in omega 3, vitamin e, zinc, magnesium and soluble fiber so they are incredible at supporting your progesterone, your anti-inflammatory prostaglandins and detox of estrogen.
It’s literally that simple to start seed cycling! There are so many ways you can mix these into your meals to get them in every day, but this is one of my favorite recipes!
What if I don’t have a natural cycle?
You can also do seed cycling if you have lost your cycle or if you are postmenopausal! In this case, instead of using your natural cycle as a guide, you will just sync with the moon.
On the new moon (day 1-14) you will start the seeds for your period and on the full moon (day 15-28) you will switch to the seeds for your luteal phase.
So think new moon = period and full moon = ovulation. This is such a simple way to keep track of what seeds you will be consuming!
How to Find High Quality Seeds for Seed Cycling
For the best results, it’s so so important to use high quality seeds! Many of the seeds you find just in the grocery store (especially if they are already ground!) are already rancid by the time they get to you. So, I suggest buying whole, raw, organic seeds and grind them right before eating them for the best quality.
But if you’re anything like me and need to make this as EASY as possible to fit in your busy schedule, grinding seeds all the time is maybe not for you.
Funk It Wellness was designed specifically to support women with seed cycling! They grind and blend the seeds you need during each phase of your cycle and ship them right to your door!
Plus, the seeds are ground right before shipping so you can be sure they’re fresh (unlike seeds at the grocery store that sit in shipping containers and on the store shelves for who knows how long!).
Use code LEAH15 to get a discount on your seeds at Funk it Wellness!
So, if you want to naturally balance your hormones and support your body during each phase of your menstrual cycle, I highly recommend that you try seed cycling. It’s such a simple step you can take to support your hormones!
Learn more about supporting your hormones throughout your full menstrual cycle by downloading the free Painless Period Prep Guide!