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Seed Cycling: Food as Medicine

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Seed cycling: Food as Medicine comes under the branch of naturopathic or alternative medicine and is a practice thought to help regulate hormone levels in people who have periods. (1) During seed cycling, the diet is supplemented with four different seeds: flax, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower all are grounded to aid nutrient absorption and eaten raw each day.

Seed cycling is the perfect example of food as medicine. It’s the newest health trend in hormone balancing but based on old wisdom. Women with hormone-related imbalances ranging from PMS, infertility, PCOS to menopausal symptoms have benefited from seed cycling.

Image of seeds

Seed Cycling: Food as Medicine

Essentially, it involves eating different seeds that encourage healthy estrogen levels the first half (follicular phase) of your menstrual cycle and other seeds that encourage healthy progesterone levels in the second half (luteal phase) of your cycle.

Why supplement with seeds? These seeds contain specific vitamins, nutrients, and fatty acids that are believed to support hormonal function. Whole seeds won’t break down completely in your gut, so grinding them enables your body to extract more nutrients from the seeds. They can be eaten alone or added to other foods like smoothies and salads.

The recommended regimen has two phases.

Day 1-14: 1 to 2 tablespoons of ground flax and/or pumpkin per day.
Day 15-28: 1 to 2 tablespoons each of ground sunflower and/or sesame seeds per day until the first day of your next menstrual cycle.

Then the cycle repeats. If you have irregular periods, missed periods or are in menopause, you can start with the new moon cycle.
Day 1-14: new moon to full moon
Day 15-28: full moon to new moon

Be creative! Grind up the raw seeds, add to smoothies, sprinkle on salads, cereal, or mix in yogurt. You can even experiment making seed butter, or yummy seed balls (blend in food processor with dates, cocoa, and roll in coconut).

A few reminders for success:
-Eat them raw as roasted seeds don’t have the same healing benefits.
-Store your seeds in the fridge or freezer to maintain freshness.
-Ideally grind seeds daily as they can spoil quickly, but if that’s not feasible than do small batches a few days at a time and keep in the freezer.
-Consistency is the key. Give it up to 3 cycles before deciding whether it’s working for you.

Go here for recipes.

References

  1. King TL, Brucker MC, Kriebs JM, Fahey JO. Varney’s Midwifery. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2013. 145, 347, 355, 356, 365
  2. Legro RS, Arslanian SA, Ehrmann DA, Hoeger KM, Murad MH, Pasquali R, et al. Diagnosis and Treatment of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2013;98(12):4565–92.
  3. Kristensen M, Jensen MG, Aarestrup J, Petersen KE, Søndergaard L, Mikkelsen MS, et al. Flaxseed dietary fibers lower cholesterol and increase fecal fat excretion, but magnitude of effect depend on food type. Nutrition & Metabolism. 2012;9(1):8.
  4. Harvard Health Publishing. Quick-start guide to nuts and seeds [Internet]. Harvard Health Letter. 2019. Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/quick-start-guide-to-nuts-and-seeds
  5. Linus Pauling Institute. Lignans [Internet]. Micronutrient Information Center. 2020 [cited 2020Jan21]. Available from: https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/dietary-factors/phytochemicals/lignans
  6. Phipps, W. R., Martini, M. C., Lampe, J. W., Slavin, J. L., & Kurzer, M. S. (1993). Effect of flax seed ingestion on the menstrual cycle. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 77(5), 1215–1219. doi:10.1210/jcem.77.5.8077314
  7. Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Current clinical irrelevance of luteal phase deficiency: a committee opinion. Fertil Steril. 2015Apr;103(4).
  8. Hutchins, A. M., Martini, M. C., Olson, B. A., Thomas, W., & Slavin, J. L. (2001). Flaxseed Consumption Influences Endogenous Hormone Concentrations in Postmenopausal Women. Nutrition and Cancer, 39(1), 58–65. doi:10.1207/s15327914nc391_8
  9. National Institutes of Health. Office of Dietary Supplements – Zinc [Internet]. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; [cited 2020Jan19]. Available from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/
  10. Eby, G. A. (2007). Zinc treatment prevents dysmenorrhea. Medical Hypotheses, 69(2), 297–301. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2006.12.009
  11. Kelly RW, Abel MH. Copper and zinc inhibit the metabolism of prostaglandin by the human uterus. Biol Reprod 1983;28:883–9.
  12. National Institutes of Health. Office of Dietary Supplements – Vitamin E [Internet]. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; [cited 2020Jan19]. Available from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminE-HealthProfessional/
  13. Westphal LM, Polan ML, Trant AS, Mooney SB. A nutritional supplement for improving fertility in women: a pilot study. J Reprod Med 2004;49:289–93
  14. Mutalip SM, Ab-Rahim S, Rajikin M. Vitamin E as an Antioxidant in Female Reproductive Health. Antioxidants. 2018;7(2):22.
  15. Sharaf, A., Gomaa, N. Hormonal properties of vitamin E and its synergism with gonadal hormones. Plant Food Hum Nutr 22, 91–98 (1972) doi:10.1007/BF01099740
  16. Wu W-H, Kang Y-P, Wang N-H, Jou H-J, Wang T-A. Sesame Ingestion Affects Sex Hormones, Antioxidant Status, and Blood Lipids in Postmenopausal Women. The Journal of Nutrition. 2006Jan;136(5):1270–5.
  17. Yasui T, Matsui S, Tani A, Kunimi K, Yamamoto S, Irahara M. Androgen in postmenopausal women. The Journal of Medical Investigation. 2012;59(1,2):12–27.

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