Seed Cycling for Hormonal Health

With thyroid disease, hormone balancing becomes a major player in our road to wellness because our hormones are generally well and truly out of balance. More often than not our estrogen levels are far too high causing low progesterone, infertility, PCOS, Endometriosis, and Fibroids.

Interested in a natural and cheap protocol for hormone balancing?  No, it does not involve a bicycle or saving seeds from your garden for use in another season!!  It is something everybody is capable of including in their daily diet and is achieving a huge amount of success despite its simplicity.

WHAT IS SEED CYCLING?

Seed Cycling is a simple food-based addition to your diet that naturally regulates your hormones and menstrual cycle.  Different seeds have different properties and, in the case of the seeds used in this program, can influence the amount of hormone we do or don’t produce; in particular estrogen and progesterone.

As this is a natural process, a program of at least three months is required to see results, however, most users have reported results within two cycles.

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

• Day 1-14 (first day of the period to ovulation)
• 1 tablespoon of freshly ground flaxseeds
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
• The high lignans in flax seeds have the amazing ability to block excess estrogen from being stored in the body.  In the Follicular phase (days 1-14) of your cycle you are producing extra estrogen, so to block its storage, particularly in women who suffer from excess estrogens is hugely beneficial for natural balance.  The pumpkin seeds are high in zinc which helps to release the progesterone we need after ovulation.

• Day 15-28 (ovulation to the first day of period)
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• The second phase of your cycle is where estrogen levels decline and progesterone levels rise.  In a healthy hormonal system, progesterone helps to remove the excess estrogen from the body produced in the first half of the cycle.  When a woman is estrogen dominant however, the progesterone will be too low and this often leads to infertility, irregular cycles, PMS, breast pain, and ovulation pain.  Sunflower seeds are an amazing source of selenium which is vital to hormone health and liver detoxification.  The sesame seeds are also a source of lignans which block estrogen from being stored.  The combination of these two seeds then works together to block the estrogen and help it be excreted through the liver in the appropriate manner.

HORMONE BALANCING ON A DAILY BASIS

So how are you going to incorporate hormone balancing into your daily routine?  Firstly keep in mind you will need a coffee grinder for grinding the flax and sesame seeds. It does not need to be expensive – just a cheap one will do the job.  Unfortunately due to the size of the seeds, trying to get this job done in a blender or food processor will just see them circling the bowl happily.  Apart from that here are some ideas on how to add them to your daily diet:

• Throw both seeds into the grinder then add to your morning smoothie.
• Throw seeds into grinder then sprinkle over your morning cereal.
• Throw seeds into the grinder and sprinkle over fruit and yogurt.
• Throw seeds into grinder then add to a food processor with dates, raw cacao, coconut and roll up into a “hormone lovin” choc ball and enjoy with a cup of herb tea. Yum!!