Seed Cycling Energy Bites | Gimme Some Oven

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This simple Seed Cycling Energy Bites recipe is a delicious way to eat the daily serving of seeds recommended to help naturally balance women’s hormones.

Today’s post goes out to all of you beautiful women out there. ♡

Have many of you tried seed cycling yet?  I first started hearing the buzz about this naturopathic practice a little over a year ago.  And as someone who already loves to snack on various kinds of seeds, I was officially intrigued and wanted to learn more.

Basically, seed cycling is the practice of eating different kinds of seeds during the two phases of your menstrual cycle, in order to more naturally balance your hormones.  During the first half of your cycle (the follicular phase, approximately days 1-14), it’s recommended that women eat 1 tablespoon each of flax and pumpkin seeds per day.  Then during the second half of your cycle (the luteal phase, approximately days 15-28), it’s recommended to eat 1 tablespoon each of sunflower and sesame seeds per day.  It’s said that these specific seed cycling mixes can naturally help to balance estrogen and progesterone in the body, and many women believe the practice can help with everything from regulating periods to reducing acne and cramps and fatigue, easing symptoms of menopause, helping with infertility, and much more.

Of course, I am totally not a doctor and am not here today to give medical advice.  (I will also be the first to note that the research behind seed cycling is incredibly new, and doctors currently have conflicting thoughts about whether or not the practice is effective.)  But as various friend circles of mine have been talking and reading more these past few years about how to better care for our hormones, we’ve all been intrigued by how many women have loved this practice and how many symptoms they believe it has helped.

So since seed cycling is so simple — and I’m always looking for ways to add healthy seeds and protein to my diet anyway — I figured I would give it a try myself this year and see how it goes.  Initially I just started by sprinkling the seeds into my smoothie or on top of yogurt or granola.  But over time, I’ve found that my favorite option (by far) is to roll the seeds into these tasty little energy bites.  It’s easy to just prep a batch at the beginning of the month, then you can just pop the energy bites as an easy breakfast or snack each day.  They’re naturally gluten-free, full of feel-good ingredients, and best of all, delicious.

So for any of you who have also been intrigued by all of the talk about seed cycling lately and would like to give it a try — or hey, if you’re just interested in a new super-seedy energy bites recipe to add some extra protein to your life (my husband loves to eat these too!) — here are the two variations of the seed cycling energy bites recipe that I have been loving lately.

Seed Cycling Energy Bites Ingredients:

Here are the ingredients that you will need to make two variations of this seed cycling energy bites recipe — one version of the recipe for your follicular phase (with flaxseed and pepitas) and one version for your luteal phase (with sunflower seeds and sesame seeds):

• Seed cycling blends:
  • Follicular blend: For the follicular phase (approximately days 1-14 of your cycle), we will use a blend of raw pepitas and ground flaxseed.
  • Luteal blend: For the luteal phase (approximately days 15-28 of your cycle), we will use a blend of raw sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.
• Shredded coconut: You can use either sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut, which I recommend toasting briefly until golden for extra flavor.
• Peanut butter: I used natural peanut butter in this recipe (made with just peanuts and salt).  But you could also sub in almond butter or cashew butter instead.
• Oats: A simple scoop of old-fashioned oats.
• Mini chocolate chips: I also love the adding in some mini semisweet chocolate chips (or vegan chocolate chips) to this recipe.  But you are welcome to leave out the chocolate if you prefer.
• Honey: I like to use honey as a sweetener in this recipe, since it helps to bind the ingredients together well.  But you could also sub in maple syrup or a different natural sweetener if you prefer.  (Just note that the mixture may be a bit more crumbly if you do.)
• Vanilla extract: And finally, a splash of vanilla extract for extra flavor.

Detailed ingredient amounts/instructions listed in the full recipe box below.

How To Make Seed Cycling Energy Bites:

To make these seed cycling energy bite recipes, simply…

1. Combine all ingredients. Stir everything together in a large mixing bowl.  (Or blitz all of the ingredients in a food processor.)
2. Chill. Cover the mixture and pop in the refrigerator for a few hours to chill, which will make the energy bites easier to roll.
3. Roll into balls. Using a medium cookie scoop or a spoon, scoop out approximately 2 tablespoons of the mixture and roll it into a ball.  Repeat until you have rolled up all of the energy bites.
4. Refrigerate.  Store in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.

To be extra-accurate with the serving sizes, you are welcome to weigh the total ingredient amount of each recipe and divide by 28 to know how large to make each energy bite.  (I found that the follicular bites needed to be approximately 47 grams each, and the luteal bites needed to be 57 grams each.)  But as a rough estimate, you could just use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to measure out each bite.  With this measure — which yields approximately 28 smaller bites — you would need to eat 2 per day in order to eat the recommended serving of seeds.

Possible Variations:

There are many ways that you could customize this seed cycling energy bites recipe, so please get creative and adapt whatever works best for you!  For example, feel free to…

• Use a food processor: If you would like to save yourself the stirring and make the bites a bit easier to scoop/roll, just add all of the ingredients to a food processor and puree until smooth.  Then scoop the mixture into 28 equally-sized bites, roll and store.
• Make energy bars: If you don’t want to roll the energy bites into balls, you can make them into easy energy bars instead.  Just line an 8×8 or 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment, press the ingredient mixture firmly and evenly into the base of the pan, refrigerate until chilled, carefully lift out the parchment and transfer the bars to a cutting board, and use a knife to cut the bars into 14 (1 per day) or 28 (2 per day) equal servings.
• Make energy scoops: Alternately, you can just keep the ingredient mixture in a bowl in the fridge, then scoop out approximately a 1/4-cup serving to eat each day.
• Make them vegan: Use vegan chocolate chips and maple syrup (instead of honey).
• Make then gluten-free: This recipe is already gluten-free.  But as always, be sure to double-check the labels (especially with the oats) to be sure that each ingredient is certified gluten-free.
• Use a different sweetener: As mentioned above, you are welcome to sub maple syrup or a different natural sweetener in place of the honey.  But please note that they bars may be more crumbly if you do.
• Use a different nut butter: Natural cashew butter or almond butter would also work well in this recipe, in place of peanut butter.

More Favorite Energy Bites Recipes:

Here are a few more of my favorite energy bites recipes!

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