“I have so much energy from the crack of dawn up until the minute I go to sleep, I feel like my brain function is optimal, and I have a fire inside of me that’s just burning. I want to accomplish so much in my life and for my children,” the stay-at-home mom told The Epoch Times.
Delving Into the Ancestral Diet
Mrs. Adler, who was raised on wholesome home cooking, fell into the dieting trap once she left home for college.At this time, she tried different diets such as vegan and plant-based whilst also heavily consuming diet protein bars and coffee.
“I really didn’t view food as something that I should equate with health, and I didn’t even really think of health too much either,” the San Diego-based mom of three said.
Although she didn’t experience any major health issues, she dealt with skin problems, extreme menstrual pain, and fatigue.
In 2018, when Mrs. Adler was pregnant with her second child, Olympia, a blood test confirmed that she was highly anemic. The diagnosis surprised her as she had been eating fish and taking a high-quality prenatal vitamin with real food ingredients.
At the suggestion of her midwife, she began eating beef liver.
“It obviously wasn’t the tastiest thing, but I needed to do it,” she said. “And when I took my blood test a few months later, everything was great, and I wasn’t anemic anymore.”
After this eye-opening incident, Mrs. Adler learned of Weston A. Price, a dentist who had traveled around the world in the early 20th century and studied people living traditional lifestyles. Dr. Price argued that the reason these people were healthy was because they followed a traditional diet.
Today, as an advocate for ancestral eating, Mrs. Adler draws inspiration from historical diets like those studied by Mr. Price.
“An ancestral diet is really a diet of whole, unprocessed foods,” Mrs. Adler said. “It’s a diet that’s rich in animal proteins, so your pasture-raised meats, poultry, eggs, full fat, raw dairy.”
Ever since adopting the diet, Mrs. Adler said she has noticed positive changes, has been free of depression and mood swings, and feels that her brain function is optimal. With her and her family’s immunity getting stronger, they rarely get sick, and if they do, their bodies have been fighting off the illness quickly.
Cooking for a Family
Following the ancestral way of eating wasn’t easy at first, Mrs. Adler said.“There weren’t any recipes that I approved of, and a lot of time [was spent] testing different recipes on my own and seeing what worked,” Mrs. Adler said.
The early days involved changing a lot of ingredients, quantities, and cooking times to find culinary success.
But being married to a foodie, the bar was set very high for the meals Mrs. Adler prepared.
Her husband, 40-year-old Eric Adler, who owns a restaurant chain called Puesto and an Italian restaurant called Marisi, loved junk food.
“I needed to figure out how to make these unhealthy type foods in a nutritional, tasty, but also healthy way,” Mrs. Adler said.
And she did. Her healthy recreations include things like tacos with homemade tortillas, slow-cooked meat, and homemade sauerkraut.
Cooking from scratch, she says, isn’t an elaborate affair that requires a lot of time. Dinner for the family can look as simple as a roast chicken with herbs, left to cook for hours on its own, and a simple side salad from the garden.
The result of her simple food with quality ingredients is, she said, “very satiating, very nourishing, and very tasty.”
“A lot of people will complain about the fact that this is a very privileged way of eating and living, and it’s actually not at all,” Mrs. Adler said.
Many aspects of ancestral eating are cost-effective—making bone broth, for example, and making bread from scratch.
The Adlers, who live on a quarter acre, enjoy a life of homesteading and grow their own fruits and vegetables such as green beans, eggplant, tomatoes, fruit trees, and more.
The family’s dairy—all raw—is sourced from a local store in San Diego, and their meats and eggs come from their backyard or their extended family’s farm in Ohio.
Their pantry, meanwhile, is stocked with “single-ingredient” items like legumes, grains, and possibly some canned wild salmon—instead of snack foods.
Sharing Her Journey
After sharing her journey of cooking from scratch on her website and social media, Mrs. Adler began to receive questions from those who were interested in what she was doing. Through answering their questions, she decided to create her own Nourishing Kitchen Masterclass to teach women how to get started eating from scratch.According to Mrs. Adler, many people have noticed an improvement in their health after following her advice. Although she has some naysayers, she focuses her energy on positivity and supporting others.
“I know that what I’m doing has huge value, and I can’t let the negativity stop me or slow me down,” said Mrs. Adler, who has been following the ancestral diet for around seven years now.
For those interested in ancestral eating, Mrs. Adler recommends they try out a new recipe each week, avoid ultra-processed fast foods, and restock their pantry with nutrient-dense foods.
“Just really cherish your family and your health, and of course, what you put on the dining room table because, without good health, we really don’t have anything,” she said.
