Period Story18 Joulu 2025

Alanna Collen: Microbes Have A Crucial and Intimate Role In Running Our Bodies

I had such a fangirl moment on today’s episode of Period Story! I speak with Alanna Collen, a science writer, biologist and author of 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness. Her book inspired much of my interest in gut health, so it was a thrill to speak to her for the podcast.

In this episode, Alanna shares:

The vasovagal events that made her periods extremely painful and unpleasant
How the Depo Provera injection changed the trajectory of her career
Her background in evolutionary biology and how she ended up doing a PhD on bats
How an encounter with ticks in a rainforest led to her research on the gut microbiome
Why she thinks going to basics with nutrition is better than any gut health tricks or hacks to feed your gut bacteria
Her views on fibremaxxing and why we would all benefit from eating more fibre
How the trillions of microbes in our bodies support our immune system
The connection between our gut microbiome and obesity
A sneak peek into her next book, which has been 10 years in the making
Why the weight set point matters and how we can influence it
And of course, the story of her first period

Alanna says that we can look after our microbes by eating as many plant foods as we can and building up the amount of fibre our body is used to tolerating.

Thank you, Alanna!

Get in touch with Alanna:

Website

Instagram

Her book: 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness

A transcript is available on www.periodstorypod.com

Get in touch:

IG @periodstorypod

periodstorypod@gmail.com

A transcript is available on www.periodstorypod.com

Get in touch:

IG @periodstorypod

periodstorypod@gmail.com

Book a 30 minute hormone health review with me: http://eatlovemove.as.me/hormonehealth

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