Hidden Gems: Meet Deserae Davies of Nourish with Des

Today we’d like to introduce you to Deserae Davies.

Hi Deserae, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey into nutrition actually started long before I ever imagined it becoming my career.

I struggled quite badly with my gut health from around the age of 16, and at the time I didn’t really have the language to understand what was happening in my body. I just knew I didn’t feel well. That experience sparked what became a very genuine fascination with food, digestion and the connection between how we live and how we feel.

I spent years experimenting with my own nutrition — including around a decade eating vegetarian and vegan — while studying and learning more about the body. The deeper I went, the more I realised that health is rarely about one isolated symptom. Your gut, hormones, stress, nervous system, sleep, nutrition and lifestyle are constantly communicating with one another, and that understanding became a huge part of how I approach wellness today.

There were also some very significant personal experiences along the way. I lost my mum when I was 24 and later lost my dad, and those experiences inevitably changed the way I looked at health, time and the life I wanted to create. They made me incredibly aware that feeling well and being present with the people you love is something worth protecting.

Eventually I trained as a Naturopathic Holistic Nutritionist, specialising particularly in gut health and hormone balance, and began working directly with clients. What started relatively small grew very quickly. Over the years I’ve had the privilege of helping thousands of people through nutritional therapy, testing and lifestyle changes, and working so closely with people completely shaped the practitioner I became.

Then motherhood changed the lens again.

Having my two boys made me much more interested in what health looks like in real life — not the perfectly organised version you see online, but feeding a family, managing picky eaters, supporting your own hormones, trying to exercise, work, raise children and still have enough energy left to actually enjoy your life.

That is really where Nourish With Des as it exists today began to take shape.

I wanted to take everything I’d learned clinically and translate it into something women could genuinely use in their everyday lives. Less fear around food, fewer impossible routines and much more understanding of why the body might be responding the way it is.

Today my work sits somewhere between nutrition, gut and hormonal health, motherhood, self-care and lifestyle. I still love the science and physiology behind what I do, but I’m equally interested in helping women build lives that support their health rather than constantly feeling as though they have to fight their bodies.

I’ve created nutrition programmes, guides and family resources, including my work around gut health, women’s hormones, hair health and feeding children, while also building an online community where I can share those conversations much more openly.

And I still feel like I’m at the beginning.

The vision now is much bigger than simply telling people what to eat. I want Nourish With Des to become a space that helps women understand their bodies, nourish their families and create healthier lives in a way that feels beautiful, achievable and sustainable.

Ultimately, everything I’ve built has come from the same question I started asking as a teenager:

Why does the body feel the way it does — and what can we do every day to help it function better?

I’m just fortunate that asking that question eventually became my life’s work.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not. I think from the outside, growth can sometimes look much more linear than it actually feels when you’re living it.

A lot of my journey has involved learning through difficult seasons, both personally and professionally. Losing my mum at 24 and later losing my dad changed me enormously. Grief has a way of shifting your priorities very quickly, and for me it created a much deeper awareness of time, health and the kind of life I wanted to build.

There were also years of navigating my own health, trying to understand my body and questioning why certain approaches worked for some people but not for others. In many ways, that frustration became fuel. It pushed me to keep learning rather than accepting surface-level answers.

Professionally, one of the biggest challenges has probably been learning to trust myself.

When you’re building something of your own, there isn’t always someone there telling you that you’re making the right decision. I’ve had to learn how to value my experience, my knowledge and my perspective rather than constantly looking outside myself for reassurance.

Motherhood added another layer to that. Building a career while raising two young children has taught me a lot about flexibility. There have been periods where I’ve felt incredibly ambitious and creative, while also wanting to be completely present with my family. Finding a way to honour both has probably been one of the biggest ongoing lessons.

I’ve also had to unlearn the idea that success has to mean doing more all the time. Earlier in my career I was very focused on working harder, helping more people and saying yes to everything. Now I’m much more interested in building something sustainable — a business and a life that still leave room for health, family, creativity and actually enjoying what I’m working so hard to create.

There have absolutely been setbacks, self-doubt and moments where I’ve questioned whether I was moving quickly enough or doing things the “right” way.

But looking back, most of the difficult parts ended up refining the direction.

They taught me that I don’t want to build a wellness brand based on perfection. I want to build something rooted in real life — where health, motherhood, ambition, grief, growth and joy can all exist in the same story.

So no, it hasn’t been a completely smooth road, but I don’t think I would have the same perspective, empathy or clarity in my work if it had been.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Nourish with Des ?
My business is Nourish With Des, a nutrition and wellness brand centred around helping women understand their bodies in a way that feels practical, empowering and realistic.

My background is in naturopathic holistic nutrition, with a particular focus on gut health, hormone balance and the connection between food, stress, lifestyle and the nervous system. Over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of people through nutritional therapy and testing, and that hands-on experience has shaped the way I approach health today.

What I think sets Nourish With Des apart is that I’m not interested in reducing someone’s health down to one symptom or one solution.

A woman might come to me because she feels bloated, exhausted, is struggling with her weight, experiencing changes in her cycle, losing hair or simply doesn’t feel like herself anymore — but often those things are interconnected. Digestion, hormones, blood sugar, stress, sleep, nutrient status and the nervous system are constantly influencing one another.

My role is really to help women understand those connections without making wellness feel overwhelming.

I’m very passionate about bridging the gap between evidence-based nutrition and the more holistic principles that have been used for generations. I love the science behind the body, but I also believe health is influenced by how we live — our routines, our relationships with food, our stress levels, the way we rest and even whether the lifestyle we’ve created actually feels sustainable.

Motherhood has also become a huge part of the brand. I have two young boys, so I’m living the same reality as many of the women in my community: trying to nourish a family, deal with picky eaters, look after myself, work, exercise, be present and somehow get dinner on the table at the end of the day.

Because of that, I never want my work to feel like wellness advice created in a vacuum. It has to work in real life.

Alongside my clinical work, I’ve created digital nutrition programmes and resources covering areas such as gut health, women’s hormones, hair health and family nutrition, including my Little Food Explorer Cookbook, which was created specifically to make feeding children — particularly picky eaters — feel easier and less stressful.

What I’m probably most proud of brand-wise is the community and trust that has grown around Nourish With Des.

I want someone to come across my work and feel as though they’re learning from someone knowledgeable, but also talking to a friend who will explain things in a way that actually makes sense. There is already so much fear and confusion in the wellness industry; I want my brand to make women feel more informed about their bodies, not more afraid of them.

The vision for Nourish With Des continues to grow. Ultimately, I see it becoming a much larger ecosystem around nutrition, movement, motherhood, self-care and lifestyle — giving women the education and practical tools to create healthier lives for themselves and their families.

For me, nourishment has never just meant food.

It’s about creating a life that supports the person living it.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I think the biggest thing I’d want readers to know is that health doesn’t have to become another area of life where you feel like you’re failing.

There is so much information available now, which can be incredibly valuable, but it can also make people feel as though they need to eat perfectly, exercise perfectly, have the perfect morning routine and somehow optimise every part of their lives just to be considered “healthy.”

I don’t believe that’s what wellness should feel like.

Some of the most powerful things we can do for ourselves are actually quite simple: eat nourishing food most of the time, move our bodies, get outside, prioritise sleep, manage our stress, spend time with people we love and learn to pay attention to what our bodies are telling us.

You don’t need to change everything at once.

I’m also a huge believer in staying curious. Our understanding of nutrition, the microbiome, hormones, the nervous system and women’s health continues to evolve, and I think good practitioners should be willing to evolve with it. I never want to reach a point where I believe I’ve learned everything there is to know.

And perhaps most importantly, I’d encourage women to stop viewing their bodies as something they constantly need to fix.

Your body is communicating with you all the time. Sometimes the symptoms we become frustrated with are actually information — a sign that something needs more support, nourishment, rest or attention.

The goal isn’t perfection.

It’s understanding yourself well enough to make choices that help you feel strong, healthy and present in the life you’re actually living.

That’s really what I hope people take from my work — not fear around health, but confidence in their ability to look after themselves and their families.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nourishwithdes.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nourishwithdes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/14nvHpgv56k/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wearethedavies