Seed Cycling: What You Need to Know

Period problems? I got you.

Research shows that following a Mediterranean diet pattern and eating foods like olive oil and fruits can support easier periods. Another popular way to use foods to support the menstrual cycle is 👉 seed cycling.

There are no clinical trials on seed cycling, but seeds do contain nutrients known to support hormones, like:

✔️Lignan phytoestrogens

✔️Omega-3 essential fatty acids

✔️Zinc, magnesium, and vitamin E

With seed cycling, women eat:

1️⃣ One tablespoon each per day of ground flax seeds and pumpkin seeds on days 1-14 of the menstrual cycle (phase 1), when estrogen levels rise.

2️⃣ One tablespoon each per day of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds on days 15-28 of the menstrual cycle (phase 2), when progesterone levels rise.

If you’d like to give it a try, here are some easy ways to add seeds into your daily routine:

🥤 Add a scoop to your smoothie

🥣 Mix into yogurt

🥗 Toss into salad

🍓 Sprinkle over toast, nut butter, and fresh fruit

Nutrition is one of many ways we can support healthier hormones and easier cycles. If you need more support with hormone health, you're in the right place!

Visit our website to schedule an initial visit with Dr. Cantrell! 🌱

REFERENCE:
Onieva-Zafra MD, Fernández-Martínez E, Abreu-Sánchez A, et al. Relationship between Diet, Menstrual Pain and other Menstrual Characteristics among Spanish Students. Nutrients. 2020;12(6):1759. Published 2020 Jun 12. [link]

Mental Health through the Menstrual Cycle

450.

If you menstruate, that’s about how many periods you’ll have in a lifetime.

Yet even though half the world’s population is menstruating for half their lives…we have very little research on what the hormonal effects actually are…especially in relation to the brain and mental health.

That’s why this new study 👆 is so remarkable.

Neuroscientists tracked 30 women over the course of their menstrual cycles with MRI brain scans and hormone tests—and found brainwide structural changes that correlated with hormone fluctuations 🤯🤯🤯

For example:

🔹 Just before ovulation (when estrogen is high), brains showed changes that indicated faster information transfer.

🔹 The rise of FSH before ovulation was associated with thicker gray matter.

🔹 Progesterone after ovulation correlated with decreased cerebrospinal fluid volume.

What does all this mean?

It means the hormone changes throughout the menstrual cycle influence MORE than just the ovaries and uterus. The more we learn about these hormone-brain connections, the better we can make sense of the domino effect of female hormone balance.

Is your mind blown?

P.S. this study is not yet peer-reviewed but available preprint.

Reference

Rizor EJ, Babenko V, Dundon NM, et al. Menstrual cycle-driven hormone concentrations co-fluctuate with white and grey matter architecture changes across the whole brain bioRxiv 2023. [link & news article]