96. Seed Cycling: Fad, Fix, or Functional Tool?

Is seed cycling just another internet trend—or could it actually help balance your hormones? In this episode, Dr. Monica explores the real science (and limitations) behind seed cycling, a food-based strategy often promoted for hormone support and fertility. You’ll hear the story of Tasha, a mom of two who used seed cycling as one tool in her restorative care plan, and how it helped her feel more in control of her cycle, energy, and emotions.

We’ll cover:

• What seed cycling actually is and how it works
• Which nutrients are found in different seeds and why they matter
• Why seed cycling isn’t a miracle fix—but can be part of a holistic, restorative approach
• The potential downsides and who may want to skip it
• How to make seed cycling simple, stress-free, and realistic in your daily life

If you’re looking for a gentle, food-first way to support hormone health—or you’re just curious about what’s hype and what’s helpful—this episode is for you.

✨ Imagine if your nutrition could become one of the gentlest tools in your hormone healing toolkit. Not a fix-all, but a meaningful start.

👩‍⚕️ Want to find out what a personalized, restorative plan could look like for your hormones or fertility?
Book a free discovery call with our team at radiantclinic.com — we offer in-person visits in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and telehealth across many U.S. states.

Transcript

Monica: 0:02

Welcome back to Cycle Wisdom, where we empower women to restore natural menstrual cycles, to improve health and promote fertility. I'm your host, Dr. Monica Minjeur, and I'm so glad you're listening today. You've probably heard about seed cycling, maybe from a wellness blog, a TikTok video, or a friend who swears it helped her to get pregnant, but is there any real science behind it? And more importantly, can something as simple as seeds actually support your hormones? Today we're talking about how seed cycling may fit into a restorative reproductive medicine approach and how to make it doable in real life without tracking every single day. We also discuss some of the potential limitations and downsides to help you decide if this is something that is right for you. So let's get started today, as always, with a patient story about Tasha. Now Tasha came to see us when she was about 34 years old. She was a busy mom of two toddlers and they were trying for baby number three. Tasha was feeling overwhelmed and anxious because she had irregular cycles and they were inconsistent, and she knew that this would make it much more challenging to get pregnant. She had been told by her past OB doctor that birth control was the only solution for irregular cycles, and that if she wanted to try and get pregnant, she should just turn to IVF. Tasha came to see us because a friend had recommended that there may be some other things going on with her hormone levels that could be helped, and ultimately Tasha didn't want to rely just on medications in order to force her body into something that it wasn't ready to do. When we did her evaluation, we looked at her charting. We discussed lifestyle options, and we did a full spectrum restorative evaluation to get appropriate diagnosis for her. As part of that plan, we talked about food-based support and she brought up that she would like to try seed cycling as a part of that broader plan. And so we discussed how we can rotate some of those seeds into her diet on a regular basis in order to help support both her progesterone and estrogen levels at certain times. Over the next few months, Tasha began to notice more steady energy. She had fewer mood swings, and eventually with the additional assistance of medications, we were able to help her cycles lengthen out to a healthier number of days. Best of all, Tasha felt like she understood what was going on with her body again, and she was able to address this from multiple facets rather than relying on just medications to help get her body into the right place. So let's start with basics. So maybe you haven't heard of seed cycling. And so what this is, is it's a food-based practice of incorporating different types of seeds at different times of your cycle because of their natural content of nutrients to support hormone production and better balance. So in particular. The recommendation is to utilize flax seed and pumpkin seed during the first part of your cycle, so the follicular phase from the time of your menstruation until the time of ovulation. Now flax and pumpkin seed are known to be rich in lignin and zinc, and both of these can help to support estrogen production as well as ovulation function. In the second half of your cycle, the idea is to utilize seeds like sesame seed and sunflower. Now both of these contain selenium and vitamin E, which has been shown to possibly support progesterone and better health during, during your luteal phase. Now I want to be very clear here, is that seed cycling is not a replacement for lab work or diagnoses or personalized treatment. It can be one way to help support your body, and I would definitely never want to say that it's a fix all. I never wanna overstate the fact of what food can do alone, but I do believe in empowering women to use everyday tools to nurture hormone health for the long haul. And that's why I think it's important to discuss this seed cycling. So let's talk briefly about some of the potential downsides or limitations of seed cycling so that we can present a balanced opinion here. So there is a lack of strong clinical evidence when it comes to seeds. So for example, there's no large scale randomized controlled trials that have one woman. Taking seeds and another woman not taking seeds in order to determine which treatment method is better. Much of this support is based on anecdotal evidence and the extrapolation of nutritional data, not gold standard medical research. And again, this is one of the reasons why we say it's okay to utilize it as a nutritional strategy to support lifestyle changes, but should not be a standalone fix or guaranteed results. The second kind of goes along with that is that seed cycling doesn't address the root causes alone, especially if you are someone who has significant hormone dysfunction like PCOS or endometriosis, or maybe you're just not having periods at all. Seed cycling is. Unlikely to resolve those core issues independently. Again, we want to utilize this as something that can help to support overall hormone metabolism, but doesn't correct the underlying pathology on its own. And again, we still need to go back to our basics of cycle tracking, lab monitoring, and medical treatment paired with nutritional therapy or those lifestyle changes. In some cases, this can actually cause some issues for patients. So some of our clients will say, I have a hard time knowing which seeds do I take when, and sometimes that can create additional stress or anxiety with trying to time certain foods along with when I'm supposed to be having things in my cycle. And again, ultimately our goal here is, is not to have a food-based source of lifestyle changes that creates additional stress. And so if this creates more stress than what it's worth, we say just forget it. Don't even worry about it. We don't want to create more issues. Some individuals also will notice that they have upset stomach or food sensitivities with certain foods. So by nature, many seeds have a lot of nutrients in them, which is great for the benefits, but seeds can also be high in fiber. And fat. And in some individuals this can cause abdominal bloating or discomfort, especially if you introduce it too quickly. And I will just call out that some people do have allergies to these foods, especially sesame seeds or sunflower seeds. So if taking seeds doesn't feel good with your body, that's a clear sign that it is not okay to continue it, and that's okay. And then the final limitation I would say is that because of what we see so often on social media and marketing is that oftentimes people have this unrealistic expectation that seed cycling is this miracle fix, that it's going to correct everything that is going on with your hormones, and it really sets you up for disappointment. In the world of restorative reproductive medicine, we focus not on just selling you a trendy solution or saying, Hey, try this thing. We are here to offer thoughtful tools that support your healing in a realistic way. And if seed cycling fits into that, great, we can discuss that. But it is absolutely not a one size fit all, and we are not looking for the quick fix. So if this is something you'd like to try out, let's get practical. How can I make this work into my daily routine? So the first thing that I would say is to keep it simple. You don't have to obsess over the exact cycle days. Have I ovulated yet today? Which one should I switch for? Ideally, we're looking to aim for about one to two tablespoons per day of that mix of seeds in the particular time of your cycle in order to support your diet consistently. And again, we're looking for in the first half of your cycle utilizing flax seed and pumpkin seed, and in the second half of your cycle, marked by ovulation as kind of the differentiator. We're utilizing sesame and sunflower seeds. Now, ideally, grinding up the seeds will enhance absorption. It also tends to be a little bit less rough on your gut, so you can either buy these seeds pre-ground or you can grind them in a coffee grinder. Now my favorite recommendation for this is not to just try and stomach down a spoonful of these seeds. I love the idea of adding it to either smoothies or overnight oats or sprinkling it on top of something like your toast or your salad. I know there's lots of recipes as well that you can make. Seed balls or hormone support bites, and you keep'em in your fridge or your freezer. And so some people that I know pair these seed balls and they'll mix'em with their other concoctions of either protein powders or peanut butter or something else to have them in. And then they'll mark one bag as my follicular phase bag and one bag and a Ziploc with your. Luteal phase, and so that way, you know, Hey, this is what I'm gonna do is I just take one of these a day, and that becomes a part of the regular routine. So whatever makes that easiest as far as how you utilize it, is really what we're going for. Again, not aiming to be perfect with this, but really focusing on how can we help to nourish your body and restore some of these nutrients. And again, I would say another practical piece of this. There are lots of other ways that you can get these good nutrients in besides just using seeds. So if the intention here is to get overall better health when it comes to everything in regards to balancing your hormones. I would say focus on that as your primary goal rather than obsessing about which seeds am I taking at which time, and am I getting enough? So what does the research say and what does our experience see in real life? Now, again, as I mentioned, there's not a lot of actual clinical research that's been done specifically on seed cycling. But what we know is that when we break it down to this scientific level of how the nutrients work, we do know that the individual nutrients in some of these seeds have been shown to support endocrine and reproductive health. So again, as I mentioned, going back to Lignins, for example, lignin help to bind excess estrogen, and they help to aid in healthy metabolism. And so the lignins can really help to support what's going on from an estrogen standpoint. Early on in your cycle, vitamin E is often used to help support your luteal phase, so it can help with that progesterone development and stabilizing the length of your luteal phase. And then zinc and selenium are parts of the, all of the seeds, and they are crucial co-factors for hormone synthesis. So again, this is part of the reason why we say even if you can't get a particular vitamin or seed during a particular time, there are these vitamins like zinc and selenium that are important for all sorts of hormone synthesis. So making sure you're getting enough through either dietary sources. Seeds or supplements can be really beneficial as far as helping to support good, healthy hormones. Now, what can we see clinically? You know, certainly in some women when they're doing seed cycling, it's used in conjunction with other things, whether that's supplements or prescription strength medications, other lifestyle changes that we're trying to institute. And so if we're noticing better overall hormone balance, we oftentimes will start to see more stability in the length of your cycle overall, as well as in the luteal phase. Some women will notice a reduction in their PMS symptoms or in irregular spotting and an improvement in cervical mucus quality because if we're improving the estrogen component, oftentimes that cervical mucus will get better. We also will see that there are some people that respond better to, there are other treatments like bioidentical progesterone or ovulation medications when we are helping to support it from a lifestyle standpoint. And really the goal here is just today, can we get to a point of where we're not reliant on just the medications? What else can we do to help support the hormones in a healthier way throughout your entire cycle? So you don't need to overhaul your entire life to begin healing your hormones. And sometimes it starts with something as small as some minor dietary changes or adding in a spoonful of seeds. Seed cycling isn't magic and it isn't going to cure everything, but it can be a meaningful part of a restorative whole body approach to hormone balancing. Imagine if your nutrition could become one of the gentlest tools in your hormone healing toolkit. Not a fix all but a meaningful start. If you're feeling hesitant about medication or supplements or just want a food friendly way to help support your cycle, seed cycling may be worth exploring, especially if you pair it along with a personalized, restorative, reproductive medical care approach. At Radiant Clinic, we help you to sort fact from fad and offer real solutions that fit your body, your goals, and your season of life. Let's explore what restorative, personalized care could look like for you. If you're ready to work with our elite team of healthcare professionals, go to our website, radiant clinic.com to schedule a free discovery call and learn more about our package based pricing for comprehensive care. We are currently able to see people for in-person appointments in our Cedar Rapids, Iowa Clinic, or can arrange for a telehealth visit if you live in many different states across the us. Check out our website for current states that we can serve medical clients and let us know if your state is not listed to see if we can still cover you there as we are constantly expanding our reach, please note that our fertility educators are able to take care of clients no matter where they live. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Please share this podcast with someone in your life who would benefit from our services. Remember to subscribe to this podcast for more empowering content that I look forward to sharing with you on our next episode of Cycle Wisdom.