Let’s Talk About Seed Cycling
on Jan 23, 2018, Updated Aug 13, 2019
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Seed Cycling! I thought it was finally time to talk to you guys about my experience with it and how it helped me regulate my period and get pregnant. If you guys haven’t read about my experience with Hypothalamic Amenorrhea I suggest heading back to read that first. After not having my period for most of 2016 I was so excited to get it back because I knew we wanted to try to start a family in 2017. I first got my period back in November of 2016 and for the next 6 months my periods came about every other month, getting a bit closer each month, and by July they were still about 45 day cycles. At the end of July we decided to start trying to get pregnant and I knew if we were going to go for it I was going all in! So I decided to go to acupuncture about mid August as I had heard so many people rave about it for hormone support. I explained everything I had been through to my acupuncturist and before we even started with the needles she said, okay first of all you need to start seed cycling.
She wrote down on a little post it note, what seeds to take and how to take them and said to start on the new moon which happened to be starting just about 4 days later. Why the new moon? Well the reason a normal cycle is 28 days is actually because of the moon! You should start your period on the new moon and ovulate on the full moon… apparently. So of course I asked no questions and just said YES LET’S DO THIS! So this is what I did.
How Seed Cycling Works:
On the New Moon (if period is longer than 35 days), or on the first day of your period:
- 1 tablespoon raw flax seeds, fresh ground
- 1 tablespoon raw pumpkin seeds, fresh ground
- Fish Oil pill
You do those 2 seeds for 14-18 days. This all depends on you and your cycle. Because I started at a 45 day cycle, I started at 18 days, then my next cycle was 35 days, so I switched to 15 day seed cycles.
For the next 14-18 days:
- 1 tablespoon raw sesame seeds, fresh ground (i used black sesame seeds)
- 1 tablespoon raw sunflower seeds, fresh ground
- Evening Primrose Oil
Questions you might have:
Do you have to fresh grind them every day?
- My acupuncturist suggested fresh ground every morning for maximum benefits. You can pre grind them I guess but in my opinion, if you are super serious about your hormone health and want to regulate your period, just put in the extra work. I scooped 1 tablespoon of each of the days seeds into a coffee grinder and it took no times at all. And yes I went out and bought a coffee grinder for this exact reason.
How do you eat them?!
- This is an important part! My acupuncturist told me not to heat the seeds. They are raw for a reason – maximum nutrients and benefits. So the main ways I ate them were:
- Adding them into smoothies.
- Mixing them with a drippy nut butter/ coconut butter combo and eating with a spoon or apple or banana.
- Mixing them into guacamole and having on toast.
- Those 3 ways were about what I did every morning for the 2-3 months I did this! Yes it gets old, yes it’s work, and yes I am now pregnant 🙂
What time of the day do I have to eat them?
- Preferably in the morning but if you can’t do it then, later on is fine.
Why these seeds?
- Seeds are so great for hormone support!! These four seeds are super rich in omega 3 and 6 fatty acids.
- Flax seeds and sesame seeds contain lignans which block excess estrogen – AMAZING! Excess estrogen causes tons of problems in the body including excess weight gain/ hard to lose weight, bloating, irregular periods, headaches and all kinds of other health issues.
- Pumpkin seeds are high in zinc which supports your bodies rise in progesterone levels.
How fast does it work?
- For this, everyone is SO different. But for me, I started taking them when I had a 45 day cycle, my next cycle was then 35 days and the next cycle was my last because I never got my period again! I will note that I still could not tell when I was ovulating. I don’t think that part of it went totally normal because how my baby girl measures shows that I ovulated way late in my cycle . Who knows, but at least I ovulated!
- I think I was pretty lucky, my acupuncturist said it would take about 4 months to regulate.
What hormone issues can seed cycling help with?
Most of them! Here are a few that it can help:
- Hormonal Acne
- PMS
- Irregular Cycle
- Infertility or sub-fertility
- Too light or too heavy bleeding
- Peri-menopause
- Post-menopausal hormone symptoms like low libido or depression
- PCOS
- Irregular cycle
Where should I buy all of this stuff?
- You can find all of it at most health food stores but amazon is amazing too! I got lots of my stuff there. Here are some good amazon finds:
- Raw Flax Seeds
- Raw Pumpkin Seeds
- Raw Sesame Seeds
- Raw Sunflower Seeds
- Fish Oil
- Evening Primrose Oil
To learn more about this and other hormone information, listen to our Hectic Hormones episode of the podcast!
Thanks for sharing this, it’s very interesting! Do you know if this could help in getting a period back? Or just to regulate? You mentioned that you started on a 45-day cycle – do you know what the recommendation would be if the length of the cycle was not known? I will do further googling as well, thanks again for an informative post!
You might need to figure out why you aren’t having your period first but I am assuming it can’t hurt! I would start at 18 days too. If you read my post about Hormones and Stress I talk about getting my period back by reducing stress!
Thanks for sharing 🙂 – I saw you talk about this on your instagram and am happy to find out more – might be trying this soon. thanks
Awesome!!
Thanks so much! I’m confused about one part though. You said you started on the new moon, after your last post I had googled a lot and it said to start on your first day of your period if I remember correctly, what if your cycle isn’t matching up with the moon cycle? When should you start?
Also, is their a specific brand of fish oil you like? I have read so much about fish oil and how not all are good
Ooo I just went with what my acupuncturist said and she said the new moon was best! As for fish oil, I used the salmon oil from Trader Joes and it worked well. Not too sure on which brands are the best!
Ok thanks! So start on the new moon!
And I didn’t know about the salmon oil! Awesome!!
How do you determine how long to go for? My cycles are anywhere from 24-30 days, there very inconsistent. Should I just start with 18/18 and see what happens?
If they are 30 at the most I would start with 15 day!
Hi, Kelsey! I have one question, would it make sense to start this while taking the pill or should I wait until I stop?
Thanks 🙂
Wait until you stop for sure! Won’t do much good while on the pill!
Hi Kelsey,
I recently switched to the copper IUD (ParaGard) after being on the Nuva Ring for about eight years. My period has come back but it is super irregular. I was reading the comments and saw that you said this wouldn’t work on BC because of the hormones. The copper IUD is hormone free. Do you know if seed cycling would help on this form of BC because it is hormone free? Thank you for your insight!
I do think it would work with that!! I just heard about the copper IUDs actually and am so interested for after the baby comes. I think it would work!
Reading the comments and just had my copper IUD taken out after having soon many side effects, including completely sending my period out of whack! There are facebook groups where pple share their experiences with this even though its hormone free. i wish i would have read before i got it, I reckoned checking it out!
Hi,
I was seed cycling before I was pregnant for 2 months. Once I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks I continued to seed cycle but increased as per recommendations from a blog post I read to:
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Now I’m almost 5 weeks and for three days I’ve had light brown discharge. I’m worried because I’ve read online that handfuls of sesame seeds daily could cause a miscarriage. I’ve also been having my seeds with honey in Greek yogurt. Apparently honey with sesame seeds is even worse! I’ve seen the doctor and he thinks it’s just old blood but do you think I could be causing harm with the seeds?
Oh no! I am not sure, I stopped taking them when I found out I was pregnant but I have a hard time believing that little amount could cause a miscarriage! Good luck!!
Hi Kelsey,
This sounds great, but I’m a bit confused on the “new moon” stuff. Do we start seed cycling in the first day of our period, or do we actually time the seeds off the the moon ?
Thank you, sarah
So I have learned that you should do it on the new moon if you have irregular/ long cycles! If you have a pretty regular cycle but want to regulate hormones for other reasons you can start on your first day!
Hi Kellsey,
This was so informative and I was interested in trying this to help my hormonal acne. However, I am allergic to sesame seeds. Do you happen to know if I could replace it with something else?
Oh that is a good question but I am not sure! It looks like they do what flax seeds do but aren’t as potent so many just keep doing flax seeds the second round? I am not totally sure this would still work though!
Do you need to grind them if you are going to throw them in smoothies?