Excerpted with permission from Della Medicina by Lisa Fazio ($24.99, Healing Arts Press, 2024).

As a second-generation immigrant living in an Italian-American community, the traditions and practices of my Italian family were not even thought of as “traditions,” if thought of at all; they were just a part of daily life.

Consumption of whole legumes and grains, such as the traditional Calabrian dish cuccìa, as well as broad beans, chickpeas, and so on, occurred at midwinter and autumn celebrations when these foods were thought to be blessed and when the dead were nearest to the living.

Beans and grains are seeds, and seeds are believed to hold the regenerative and life-giving potential that when eaten revitalizes and reinvigorates the living and honors the deceased.

The History of Cuccìa

Cuccìa has many variations and is a traditional dish made to celebrate the feast of Santa Lucia in December.

It is also commonly cooked around Christmas, for good luck on New Year’s Day, and anytime during the winter for a warm bowl of deep nourishment.

Where Does The Name Come From?

The name comes from cucìa, meaning “cooked” and referring to a legend about the arrival of wheat during a famine whereby the food was cooked as quickly as possible, so the hungry people didn’t have to wait any longer.

Instead of taking the time to make bread, the wheat was boiled into a quick porridge. As soon as it was ready the cook shouted, “Cucìa, cucìa!,” “Cooked, cooked!”

Or it may stem from the Greek Ko (u) kkìa, which means “wheat.”

What is Cuccìa?

There are multiple versions of cuccìa with some being sweet and some being savory.

It’s basically boiled wheat berries with whatever else sounds good added to it.

In some recipes it’s more of a pudding and includes ricotta.

Proponents of the “Seed-Cycling” trend claim that consuming two tablespoons daily of specific seeds—and changing the seed mixture midcycle—will help normalize menstrual cycles and balance out a wide range of reproductive hormone woes.

Seed Cycling Schedule

Here’s the simple routine they recommend.

1. Day 1 to 14: Follicular Phase

   Menstruation to Ovulation

   To support estrogen hormone balance and overall well-being:

   • 1 Tbsp ground raw flaxseed plus
   • 1 Tbsp ground raw pumpkin (pepita) seeds

2. Day 15 to 28: Luteal Phase

   Ovulation to Menstruation

   To support both estrogen and progesterone hormone balance and overall well-being:

   • 1 Tbsp each ground raw sunflower seeds
   • 1 Tbsp ground raw sesame seeds

Benefits of Seed Cycling

Claims for seed cycling include:

• better regulated estrogen and progesterone levels
• cycle regularity
• easier menopause transitions
• stronger bones
• reduced risk of breast cancer and other hormonedependent cancers
• enhanced fertility
• support for PMS and PCOS symptoms

...and more.

Does Seed Cycling Actually Work?

Let’s jump to the bottom line: there’s a lot of hype to this fad and only a little substance.

No studies have investigated seed cycling as a specific practice—so there’s no scientific proof it does or doesn’t work. But what’s more disappointing is that the few human studies have had mixed results. A few small studies do suggest benefits of individual seeds (or isolated seed constituents) in higher doses all month long.

Certainly, eating these seeds is healthy for most people and may have hormonal benefits. But the claims are more enthusiastic than the evidence warrants, and almost all the promotion around seed cycling comes from folks who are selling special seed-cycling products, fluffing up the limited and ho-hum research to sound better than it is.

That said, there is a small seed of truth to the hype. And assuming you’re not allergic to seeds, there’s no harm in trying. As an herbalist practitioner, I do love these seeds and often recommend that clients eat more of them in their daily routines.

Let’s explore the theory, possible benefits, and evidence for these seeds individually. In time, we may have better quality research to back up or refute the claims.

Health Benefits of Seeds

• Rich in Fiber

  First, we should recognize and admire all these seeds for their fiber content, about 1 to 2 grams per tablespoon. These seeds contain a mix of soluble fiber (which helps support healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels) and insoluble fiber (which supports microbiome vitality and bowel regularity).

  Indirectly, consuming more fiber in the diet may help with hormone balance via overall well-being—blood sugar, detoxification, and microbiome health can all affect reproductive hormone health. Your liver plays an important role in hormone conversion, and fiber also helps the liver in eliminating day-to-day metabolic waste more effectively.

• Lignan Phytoestrogens

  Flaxseeds are the best researched and most promising seed in the seed-cycling protocol for reproductive hormone health (even if most of the preliminary human studies have yielded less-thanimpressive results). They’re the best dietary source of lignans (20 grams in 1 tablespoon), a special type of fiber with mild phytoestrogenic effects that may help modulate and balance both high and low estrogen levels in the body.

  Lignan phytoestrogens appear to modulate estrogen levels by binding preferentially to estrogen receptor sites yet exerting a much weaker effect than the body’s natural estrogen (and potentially problematic environmental estrogens). Lignans theoretically reduce the risk of estrogen-dependent cancers, though the evidence is mixed for how well it works.

  While many experts believe lignans help protect against bone loss, the results of clinical trials have been unimpressive to date. A few small clinical trials have shown benefit for lengthening the luteal phase and promoting cycle regularity after three months.

• Omega 3 Fatty Acids

  All the seeds contain healthy fats, but the omega 3s in flaxseed are particularly noteworthy. Omega 3s are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory essential fatty acids that support nerve health, cellular function, mood, and possibly hormone balance.

  Flaxseed oil is our richest plant source of omega 3s, but you’ll get quite a bit less in the whole ground seeds (2 grams per tablespoon) and higher and more bioavailable doses in fatty fish or fish oil.

• Other Nutrients

  The other seeds in this protocol are nutrition powerhouses.

  Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds are rich in vitamin E, selenium, zinc, calcium, and other minerals that indirectly support the whole body and hormone function.

  Sesame seeds also contain lignans, though only approximately one-eighth of what’s in flax, as well as fiber, healthy fats, and calcium.

  Unhulled seeds have more minerals, but hulled seeds contain fewer antinutrients (which inhibit mineral absorption), so go with whatever you prefer.

  Sunflower seeds are rich in vitamin E, healthy fats, protein, magnesium, and selenium.

Clinical Trials

Most of the few human clinical trials on flaxseed for hormone woes have yielded iffy or unimpressive results. But in a small study, 18 women consumed a low-fiber diet for three cycles, then the same diet supplemented with flaxseeds for the next three cycles. While shifts in hormones were minimal, participants experienced more regular cycles and ovulation, longer luteal phases, and a few other subtle shifts. Scientists concluded that flax may reduce the risk of breast and other estrogen-dependent cancers.

A randomized open-label trial of 41 people with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) compared a hefty 30 grams (approximately 4 tablespoons) daily of flaxseed powder, versus no flax, alongside lifestyle modifications. After 12 weeks, those taking flax had healthier body weight, insulin, triglyceride and cholesterol levels, appetite-related hormones, and inflammatory markers, suggesting potential benefit in PCOS.

Pumpkin seeds (and pepitas) are particularly rich in zinc, magnesium, and iron and contain a special oil that may act as a 5-alpha reductase inhibitor to balance hormones. This feature is better known and researched to have a modest benefit in testosterone conversion in people with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), though a few studies have investigated its benefits for ovaries or post menopause.

Lab and animal studies postulate that pumpkin seed oil may give a mild boost to estrogen levels while addressing bladder tone and urinary incontinence issues. In one of the few (small) controlled human clinical trials, 2 grams of pumpkin seed oil daily for 12 weeks appeared to raise good HDL cholesterol, reduce diastolic blood pressure, and ease hot flashes, headaches, and joint pain in post-menopausal people, and another small trial found improvements in heart rate variability and arterial stiffness that may translate to better blood pressure.

At least two small studies on women with urinary incontinence also found benefit from pumpkin seed oil combo formulas, and I have seen the oil work well in my clinical practice as well.

We don’t know if eating the ground seeds will provide enough oil for the effects seen in the studies, which used a larger dose of the isolated oil.

Seed Tips

• Raw is Best

  Raw seeds will retain the most nutrition (though arguments could be made for sprouting, toasting, or cooking pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds to reduce antinutrients, lectins, and phytic acid and enhance flavor).

• Start Slow

  If you’re new to eating seeds, start slowly to limit gas, bloating, and digestive distress from a too-quick introduction of fiber.

• Store Carefully

  All these seeds go rancid easily, especially flax—at which point they become unhealthy. Buy high-quality brands, store in the fridge or freezer, and toss if they smell or taste fishy.

• Grind Them Up

  Grind to aid absorption; whole seeds are likely to pass through undigested.

Free the Seed for Food Security!

The origin of the ingredients in the salads we make is not likely the first thing that comes to mind when we think about acts of resistance. Perhaps it should be.

No one argues against the importance of food and its availability. We tend to think of food security at the household level. More than 40 million people in the US alone lived in food-insecure households in 2016, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service. Economic, geographic, and political factors contribute to food security or its lack.

Even more fundamental is the means of food production, and it all begins with seeds. As climate change, overpopulation, and other stressors affect our natural resources, “having a diversity of seed adapted to local ecologies will be essential to food security,” says Fred Kirschenmann, a distinguished fellow of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.

Seed Sovereignty

“Seeds are the foundation of global food systems,” says agricultural researcher Natalie Hoidal. “Without access to quality, affordable seeds and the self-determination to save, select, and share seeds, no farmer or consumer can fully attain this sovereignty.”

The right to breed and exchange seeds that are open source—not patented or controlled—is known as seed sovereignty, according to Vandana Shiva, PhD. Seed sovereignty fosters sustainability through biodiversity. But seed hybridization and the resulting patents and other legal protections afforded to huge corporations have negatively affected diversity. Of the thousands of varieties of apples once found in the US, for example, some researchers estimate that only 20 percent remain.

The social-purpose corporation Agrilicious calls seed sovereignty “an act of resistance and social empowerment in response to the monopolization of seeds (as well as DNA) by agrochemical firms, and regulations of seeds favoring such firms.”

Seed Saving

Members of Oregon’s Seed Ambassadors Project are dedicated to seed saving because they feel that it is “the foundation of developing durable and resilient locally based food systems.” Fighting the weakening of biodiversity by agribusiness, the project is guided by the principle “every seed saved is a socially healing, community-creating event.”

In addition to its cost-effectiveness, saving seeds can mean more independence for both the home gardener and large-scale farmer. Because it is illegal to save and share patented seed, seed saving is an act of resistance over the corporate entities that control what farmers grow and what we eat. A group of plant breeders, farmers, seed companies, and sustainability advocates created the Open Source Seed Initiative to foster, among other rights, the “freedom to save or grow seed for replanting or for any other purpose.”

Beginners Guides to Seed Saving

It’s easy to begin saving seeds to plant the following year or to share. Many guides exist for the beginner. Here are a few examples.

• A Guide to Seed Saving, Seed Stewardship & Seed Sovereignty by The Seed Ambassadors Project (4th edition, January 2010); available for free download from www.SeedAmbassadors.org.
• Saving Seeds by Marc Rogers (1990, Storey Publishing, $14.95); still in print nearly 30 years after its publication.

Seed Stewardship

The Seed Ambassadors Project defines seed stewardship as the process of saving seeds to maintain or improve a “seed’s health and resilience,” and “saving and selecting a variety over many seasons with the goal of passing it on to others in the future.”

Among the growing number of organizations devoted to the stewardship of seeds, the Organic Seed Alliance—a champion of farmers who save and improve seed—works to build regional alliances and networks. With cosponsors Washington State University, Oregon State University, and eOrganic, the alliance presented the ninth Organic Seed Growers Conference in February 2018, said to be “the largest seed event in the nation.”

One Person’s Efforts

Ginny Albertson of Lunenburg, MA, an environmental educator specializing in local pollinators, says she learned the value of planting a variety of clean, untreated seed to produce the native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees required to rebuild local ecosystems. With the help of Ken Jones, one of her town’s conservation commissioners, Albertson established the Lunenburg Community Pollinator Habitat on town-owned conservation land.

Along the way, she has become a saver and sharer of seeds. “Diverse native plantings,” Albertson says, “provide the food and shelter required by bees, butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, and other pollinators. They in turn pollinate the food crops we plant for human consumption.”