Women In Wellness: Kim Desch of Bravadough on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
Do not be afraid to seek YOUR optimal health, not someone else’s definition thereof. Most of my patients were women who had seen many providers before seeking care a little outside of the standard medical model.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kim Desch, NP, GM of Bravadough!.
Prior to starting her two companies Wild Flour Bakery and Bravadough!, Kim was a nurse practitioner for 28 years focusing on women’s health and autoimmune diseases. Her emphasis was on dietary intervention and the use of targeted nutraceuticals to help her patients calm autoimmune diseases and return to a state of balance and health. As someone who is also gluten intolerant, she knows first-hand how our gluten-centric culture wreaks havoc with our health and impacts our ability to enjoy the foods we love with our family and friends.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I had a small practice in Southern California, primarily seeing patients that were dealing with chronic illnesses, autoimmune diseases, or had just not been able to achieve the level of health they felt they were capable of. I focused on diet, lifestyle modifications, and the use of targeted supplements to address imbalance and restore health based on blood test markers; typically referred to as functional medicine. In functional medicine, the goal is optimal health as opposed to being within a generic healthy range.
Then, the provider became the patient. I was diagnosed as having an autoimmune disease and gluten intolerance (the two go together as I will explain later). Suddenly, I had a profound appreciation of how difficult it was for my patients to comply with a gluten free diet. Pizza was off the table! This was 12 years ago when you had to go to a health food store to find gluten free foods — and pizza was not one of them! Shortly after being diagnosed, I learned my husband and both of my sons had early symptoms of gluten intolerance as well as having genes that predisposed them to gluten sensitivity.
As adults, we make choices. Mine was health or pizza. But as mother, we must also make choices for our families. This is where it got tough. Kids go to parties with pizza and birthday cake. Happy hours involve pizza and beer. Picnics often include sandwiches. Now, I had to be the bad guy and take all that wheat-centric, food fun away or sacrifice their health. Now, I can live without bread, pasta, and beer (barely), but my family LOVED pizza in a way that most people love their pets. And killing the family dog, so to speak, was not an option. There had to be a way to be gluten free without being pizza free, but I soon found out that GOOD gluten free pizza was non-existent. Good gluten free pizza did not exist in the grocery store, in restaurants or anywhere! Time to change that. Two years later, Wild Flour Bakery released the industry’s only living (yeast-raised), gluten free pizza dough that was indistinguishable from wheat.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
I think the most interesting story came from Anthony, my very first pizza crust customer. Anthony was the head chef at a very popular local pizza and brew joint. We had just begun selling our gluten free pizza crust; prebaked and ready to top. I did a cold call to the restaurant and was delighted when Anthony agreed to give me a few minutes without an appointment. I had crusts in hand (frozen) and was prepared to leave a sample. He was using a popular pre-made crust, but admitted it was lack-luster at best. I offered to leave a few pizza crusts but instead he opened a frozen pizza shell, broke off a piece and popped it in his mouth. Instinctively, I blurted out “well, that can’t be any good, it’s frozen”. He looked up at me and said, “I’ll take 200, this is excellent”. Takeaway: when your mouth has an instinct, do not listen! He was right.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The biggest mistake I made early on was going after one of the biggest fish in the tank in terms of the pizza industry. They were too big for us to handle realistically, but they were very interested and excited about our product and I was more than eager to make a splash and secure a big win. As I learned, big customers come with big legal contracts that require big legal budgets to protect you from being swallowed up like a guppy by that big fish. Ten thousand dollars in legal fees later and we did not get the contract. Sure, we had the better product by far. But we lacked the infrastructure and distribution channels that would have ensured success. It was an expensive lesson, but it was not repeated. Make sure you can land the whale before you bait the hook.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
As cliché as it may sound, I could not have done this without my family. My husband and kids ate more bad pizzas than anyone should have to. They even brought their friends over for pizza nights when I had left-over research and development dough (sharing the pain I suppose). Our kitchen was perpetually covered in flour. And my husband began to think that the only topics I could talk about were pizza and being gluten free. My mom was an angel investor when I needed to show some financial backing to play in the tank with that whale above. And as Wild Flour progressed, that working capital has been critical to keep us afloat.
Ok perfect. Now let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
I have always been compelled to help women live healthier lives. I started by delivering babies, then went into women’s healthcare, then into functional medicine and autoimmune disease, which impacts women more often than men. Food is not just for sustenance; it is an integral part of our culture. We celebrate, connect and comfort others with food. As odd as it may sound, making a food that supports physical health and mental well-being feels like a continuation of that for me. I like bringing people together, enjoying food without inflicting damage, and helping people enjoy a simple pleasure — pizza. Being able to enjoy food with others, as simple as that may be, gives us joy. Life is nothing without joy.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Lifestyle tweaks:
- Do not be afraid to seek YOUR optimal health, not someone else’s definition thereof.
Most of my patients were women who had seen many providers before seeking care a little outside of the standard medical model.
A very common example of this was women with ‘low thyroid’. These women had often been told their symptoms of fatigue, mental fogginess, weight gain, digestive issues, etc. were “normal aging” according to their health care provider, who checked their TSH levels. Their thyroid was “within normal limits” or borderline. Sometimes they were already on levothyroxine, but the symptoms never seemed to really improve. They knew something was off but traditional medicine had failed to offer a solution.
Many of these women had undiagnosed autoimmune thyroid disease or Hashimoto’s. TSH levels alone were insufficient to diagnose or treat the problem. When I ran a comprehensive thyroid panel on these women, they usually had one, if not two, thyroid antibodies present. Their thyroid may have been producing enough hormone, giving them a somewhat normal TSH level, but their own body was destroying the hormone before it made it to target organs. What is interesting about this is that gluten causes the same response for them; it triggers a release of anti-thyroid antibodies. So while the medical model of treatment for low thyroid is to supplement with natural or synthetic thyroid hormone, it fails to address WHY the thyroid hormone is not getting to its target organs and keeping us feeling like ourselves. If fails to fix the problem; instead, it just brings the TSH lab value back within range. But eliminating gluten from the diet stops the constant attack by thyroid antibodies and can greatly reduce the need for additional thyroid medication. They feel better, they reduce the autoimmune response and they reduce their symptoms by addressing the root cause.
2. Listen; to your gut, your instincts, your family — they are all on your side.
I should have listened when my gut told me I was in over my head with that business whale. I DID listen when six weeks after launching our pizza crusts, my chef customers said they wanted this same product as a dough so they could make it their own. People are inherent creators, give them the tools to do so. And when your family says, “you can do this”, listen…you can! And when they say “mom, all you talk about is work” — it is true, so stop!
3. Embrace your mistakes, that is the only way you learn and grow. See them as a necessary and beneficial part of your journey.
I would love to give an example here, but the list would be long.
4. Take time to spend with family and talk about ANYTHING besides work.
It is easy to become obsessed with the work at hand, but those around you need to connect with YOU more than with your obsession. See #2 again — listen!
5. Listen to your customer, they will tell you what they want and need if you listen.
In the beginning, we made pizza crusts for six weeks, then transitioned to dough. I listened to my customer. Who knows your customer better?
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Only eat it if you know what is in it and where it came from. Meat does not come from cellophane and styrofoam. Neither do veggies. Ingredients matter.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
I wish someone would have told me
- Startups take longer than you think to “start up”. I would have been more patient with myself and the process.
- Sleep is to be enjoyed and coveted. I gave it up too often.
- Selling mediocre products is hard. Selling a GREAT product is NOT easier. I thought it was a no-brainer that our dough tasted so much better than the competition but quality is not everyone’s primary motivation.
- A great bookkeeper or business manager will make life exponentially better so pay them well.
- Your story matters. It is as important as the product itself. In the beginning, I dropped the “NP” after my name, feeling that being a nurse practitioner was not relevant to manufacturing a food product. But that story is the motivation, the impetus, and the background as to why our product was created. I am proud of my background, and it is what got me here, so the “NP” stays.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Today, after a year of COVID, mental health is my big topic. Fear is more deadly than any virus. Education cures many ails and empowers one to remain calm and in control. Calmness creates clarity, analytical thought and reduces stress.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
Instagram is the best way to connect with Bravadough! We love sharing our love of good food and learning from our customers. Food is to be shared!
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Women In Wellness: Kim Desch of Bravadough on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.