Click here to get my free Seed Cycling Protocol.

Seed Cycling for your period

The topic of seed cycling came up while chatting on The Period Party a number of years ago, and I decided that it was worth a little investigating. I dug through the articles on the interwebs and discovered this whole subculture of women who were using seed cycling to regulate their menstrual cycles, improve their fertility, get their absent periods to come back and get rid of painful periods. Who knew?!

I was immediately intrigued, and decided I needed to try this for myself so I could share this easy technique with my own clients. Scroll down to find out how it helped me!

What is Seed Cycling?

Seed cycling is a technique that (in addition to food and lifestyle changes – no magic bullet here peeps!), naturally helps your body regulate its sex hormone levels (namely estrogen and progesterone) by alternating different seeds (flax, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower) during the two different phases of your menstrual cycle. This is very much a “food as medicine” technique, and it is safe to do at any time.

How to do seed cycling using flax, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds
How to do seed cycling using flax, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds

Seed cycling is a simple, yet powerful addition to any hormone balancing journey. There is often a lot of confusion around how to do it for different issues, where to start, and why it’s effective, but I want to clear that up with this post and my handy guide.

Here’s how Seed Cycling works

Estrogen and progesterone are two of the key hormones that help regulate your menstrual cycle. Estrogen levels rise during the first half of the cycle known as the follicular phase, whereas progesterone levels rise (while estrogen levels decline) during the second half of your cycle–the luteal phase.

These two hormones can become imbalanced due to a number of factors, namely nutrient deficiencies, a highly stressful environment, high intake of caffeine, sugar and refined carbs, gut-related conditions, and even thyroid dysfunction or thyroid disease.

An imbalance between estrogen and progesterone throughout this cycle can contribute to a whole host of period problems including irregular ovulation and irregular cycles, anovulatory cycles (where you don’t ovulate in a cycle), heavy or long periods, missing periods, emotional and physical PMS symptoms, period cramps, acne, and short luteal phases—to name a few.

In my Seed Cycling Guide, I’ll go into specifics on exactly how to start, but for now, know that the concept is fairly simple: You rotate four different types of seeds according to which phase of the menstrual cycle you are in.

For example:

  • During your follicular phase, you incorporate pumpkin and flax seeds
  • During your luteal phase, your incorporate sesame and sunflower seeds

What happened when I tried Seed Cycling myself…

I’m the eternal experimenter – and I had some pretty cool results. Mind you, I don’t have irregular cycles or anything too out of the ordinary but I do have a little cramping on the first day of my period and my basal temperatures are sometimes all over the place.

I began seed cycling and 3 months later my temps in both phases of my cycle were much more consistent (no wacky peaks and valleys) and I had less cramps during my period. I also noticed more consistent cervical fluid with a pattern from creamy to egg-white and then to sticky after ovulation. I figure if this helped me, it can probably help you!

Month before seed cycling - lots of temperature peaks and valleys
Month before seed cycling – lots of temperature peaks and valleys
3 months after starting seed cycling - more consistent temperatures
3 months after starting seed cycling – more consistent temperatures

How to do Seed Cycling

Seed cycling should be done according to your menstrual cycle if it is regular (falling somewhere between 25-35 days), or according to the phases of the moon cycle if your own cycle is very irregular or absent. For instance, you would start with Phase 1 of the seed cycling protocol on the first day of the new moon and begin phase 2 of the protocol approximately 14 days later when the moon is full.

Seed cycling guide by Nicole Jardim

You can find all the specifics in my comprehensive Seed Cycling Guide for free, just because I love you! As I mentioned above, I did a bunch of research on the best practices for seed cycling and they’re all in there. I hope you try it out and tell me how it went for you.

After reading this guide, you’ll have all the information you need to get started, including:

  • What is seed cycling & why it’s helpful
  • The benefits of seeds for menstrual health
  • Exactly how to seed cycle for your current hormone imbalance(s)
  • How to prepare & consume your seeds & an easy recipe you can start making now
  • What you can expect from your seed cycling journey
  • The most common questions I’m asked about this process

Happy seed cycling!