My CrossFit Experience: Seed Cycling to Regulate Female Hormones

Periods. No-one’s favorite subject. I have had a lot of problems in this area in my late 30’s. And my experience with GYNs seems to be that they love to medicate and operate for fast fixes, but don’t ever try to help you get to the root of your problems. I wanted to share my story so that other women may think about alternatives before any unnecessary medications or surgeries happen to them.

A couple of months ago I started having very painful cramping. The kind that Advil or Motrin wouldn't touch. My doctor recommended using a progesterone cream for the last 14 days of my cycle to see if that helps. The cream burns your skin, it can’t be used near any vital organs (I put it on my wrists and think about whooshing into my blood stream) and there is a very large warning on the side of the box about cancer. Great. But it stopped my cramping. And I wanted to know why, so I Googled it. It turns out that I am seemingly estrogen dominant. Some symptoms of estrogen dominance that I had were:

Decreased sex drive
Depression with anxiety or agitation (off and on since my teens)
Fat gain, especially around the abdomen, hips, and thighs (identified by personal trainer as possible estrogen issue)
Fertility Issues (miscarriage, difficulty getting pregnant)
Fibrocystic breasts
Hair loss (even took this one to my physician because it was so bad)
Migraines (went away with paleo diet)
Irregular menstrual periods (went away with paleo diet)
Irritability
Magnesium deficiency
Mood swings
Premature birth (my daughter was born 8 weeks early)
Uterine fibroids
Sensation of foreign object in ear such as insects
Premature wrinkling
Panic attacks
Painful ovaries upon ovulation
Social phobia, sense of loss of social skills, withdrawal

This is not a pretty list. I actually feel like a wreck when I see all of these symptoms grouped together like this. However it’s shocking to me that my doctor, seeing some of these MAJOR symptoms, like having a baby two months prematurely and fibrocystic breasts, has never suggested testing my hormone levels to see if there was a problem. It wasn’t until I complained about cramping that she suggested progesterone cream.

In the middle of all of this reproductive system chaos, my CrossFit coach posted a video about female health on the gym’s blog. It was an interview with a holistic doctor - Dr. Thom, talking about female athletes who don’t have periods anymore. It turns out it’s pretty important to have periods - they flush toxins from the body. (Really wishing I hadn’t had that ablation now). And here’s the kicker. He suggested Seed Cycling to get a woman’s hormones back on track. He suggested that eating certain seeds at the beginning of the cycle and switching seeds after two weeks can regulate hormones. Seeds. I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But I Googled it. And it turns out to be a real thing.

I figured that it had to be better than progesterone cream, so I tried it for a month. For the first two weeks of the cycle a woman eats flax, pumpkin or chia seeds. We are talking raw seeds - nothing roasted or salted. I ate pumpkin seeds daily on a salad. Dr. Thom also suggests taking 3 grams of fish oil a day during these two weeks.

For the second two weeks of the cycle, switch to sesame or sunflower seeds (again raw), lower the dose of fish oil, and add an Evening Primrose Oil supplement.

For the first week eating pumpkin seeds I felt a little foolish. How could seeds actually change my hormones? But after that first week I felt different. I felt invincible - I felt vivacious, strong and sexy and had a very healthy libido. Those feelings lasted for the entire second week. (Normally I may feel that way for a day or two during ovulation). I can always feel myself ovulate, and it happened like clockwork on day 14. I could FEEL my body working. It’s a hard thing to describe, but it feels pretty darn amazing. (Could all of that be from eating pumpkin seeds??)

On day 15 I switched to sunflower seeds and added the Evening Primrose Oil. (I wasn’t sure about dosing so I used 1300mg capsules. Not sure if that much is needed.) I was hoping that this combination would support my progesterone enough to ward off the moodiness and irritability I normally start to feel on day 15 and usually have for the last two weeks of my cycle. Mostly I was hoping that they would prevent the severe cramping I was experiencing.

My mood was greatly improved - I didn’t have an annoyed, snappy attitude. I was very patient with my kids and even welcomed them helping me with messy projects that would normally drive me to distraction during this phase of the cycle. Again, like with the pumpkin seeds, the second week of sunflower seeds had me feeling amazing. It was like being on mood-enhancing drugs. I have heard friends who take anti-depressants describe the way I was feeling. Happiness was bubbling out of me like high doses of Prozac. It’s not just that they stopped me from feeling bad - it’s that they made me feel so, so good.

I did experience some mild cramping at the end of the cycle. At first this bummed me out because with the progesterone cream I had no cramping. But the cramps were not as bad as without the seeds, not bad enough to require pain medication, and I’m hoping that with repeated use of the seeds my hormones will adjust so that this gets better and better.

In the end, even if I still had severe pain and cramping, the mood enhancing effects of the seeds were enough to convince me to stay with it. I would highly recommend this to every woman I know, but I’m sure the couple of friends I have talked with about it think I have lost my mind. All I can say is that if you are having any troubles in this area, this is a low cost, natural remedy that is harmless to try.