Sunflowers - Yunabán the witch series

As sunflowers are in season, I thought I'll make a little post about them.
We all know that you can eat the seeds and make sunflower oil of them. But there's so much more to know about this beautiful flower.
The "Yunabán the witch series" doesn't only focus on unknown species but also provide some new information about common species.
Find out more in my previous post HERE.

As I'm not a huge fan of the oil and don't use it personally, I won't talk about this. I'll focus on the plant itself and especially the seeds.
Those are actually an amazing source of a huge variety of vitamins: Vitamin As, Bs, Es, calcium, iron, omegas, zinc and many more! And of course they're delicious to add to salads and muesli.

But also the petals are very useful:
If you have a cold, you can make a simple tea with dried petals: Brew 1-2 tbsp of them with hot water and let them soak for about 10 mins. Sweeten when desired. I didn't try this myself yet, fortunately I'm barely sick in summer time :) If I get my hands on some petals I'll totally save them for winter.

Something I stumbled over about two months ago is "seed cycling". This is a very interesting way of getting the female cycle back on track. Maybe this is TMI for you, so please stop reading at this point and just look at the lovely pictures 😜

If you make some changes in your diet, change your birth control method to a none hormonal one or have a super stressful time, your cycle can get uneven or you can lose your period at all. To get it back easier or just get it the way it's meant to be by nature (it's connected with the moon cycle!), you can do seed cycling. I just started this a few weeks ago and I can already feel a difference, which I think is amazing. So here's how it works:

From the new moon to the full moon you eat daily one tablespoon of pumpkin seeds and flax seeds.
From the full moon to the new moon you eat daily one tablespoon of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. You can start doing this either on a new moon or on a full moon (next full moon is on Monday).

The lignans in the seeds help to balance the estrogen and progesterone levels.
In some articles they say you should ground the seeds, but I don't see why I should do so because I chew them anyways :) More important to me is to make sure you use raw and organic seeds to get all benefits.

I really love the idea of this method because it's super healthy and also tasty. You do not only help balancing your cycle, you also get many other benefits from a huge variety of vitamins and minerals.
It's even said seed cycling can help with acne and other side effects! If you feel a bit off your cycle you should definitely give it a try, you can only win :) Try it at least for 3 months, natural treatments need time to show all their benefits. Side note: If you have any serious health issues, please go and see a doctor, this is not a miracle cure!

Let me know if you have any questions about seed cycling or if you already have experience with it.
Find all my "Yunabán the witch series" related posts on Instagram with #yunabanthewitch 

HAPPY SUMMER TIME! 🌻🌞