We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maria Emmerich a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maria, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

I struggled with food and weight throughout adolescence and into adulthood. I am very passionate about helping people heal their body through food because the medical field has failed me and my family numerous times.
As an overweight 16-year-old, I lacked energy, I was depressed and didn’t know why. After a visit to my doctor, I was told I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and walked away with a prescription to an acid blocker and an antidepressant — not the answer I was looking for. That same week, my dog was losing patches of her hair. “The veterinarian asked, ‘What are you feeding her?’ It was like a light-bulb went off for me. I went home and immediately changed my own diet too.
I started limiting carbohydrates and adapting a nutrient-rich diet, now know as the ketogenic diet. Seeing results, I decided to pursue a degree in nutrition and exercise physiology.
At the young age of 17, I met my husband, Craig and I really just wanted to be a mom.
But because I had PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), we looked into adoption. Just as we were making headway and getting excited about the possibility of becoming parents, Craig, an electrical engineer, lost his job.
We lost every penny. We lost our house, our cars, everything. We would go on dates to the library and stay at my parents’ rustic Northwoods Wisconsin cabin with no TV nor internet. That’s when I started writing. What started as a cathartic stress-reliever quickly turned into something more.
My friend told me, “You need to start a blog. Write down your recipes and put them in a cookbook and raise money for your adoption.”
A year-and-a-half later, we adopted two boys from Ethiopia: Kai was four months and Micah was 18 months. But, it would be months before we could actually bring them home — to Wisconsin.
About 4 months after we adopted our baby boys, my husband, Craig, lost his job. We kept this secret for awhile… it was such a scary time for us and Craig didn’t want to feel like he was failing his family. But thanks to all of you, my boys have the best stay-at-home dad EVER! It is because of all of your support with purchasing my books and pantry items from my shopping affiliates (click HERE to see) that helps keep us going.
I thought my calling was motherhood, but that was only one small part of my story.
My life has changed dramatically in the last 22 years. I have become an international bestselling author of over 14 books including “Quick and Easy Ketogenic Cooking” and “Keto: The Complete Guide to Success on The Ketogenic Diet”. My books and recipes have been featured by Halle Berry, Al Roker on Good Morning America, Valerie Bertinelli and others.
I have been helping clients with a ketogenic lifestyle for almost 20 years.
I am so grateful for every day. We have had some hard times. But Craig and I remain strong together.

Maria, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I struggled with food and weight throughout adolescence and into adulthood. I am very passionate about helping people heal their body through food because the medical field has failed me and my family numerous times.
As an overweight 16-year-old, I lacked energy, I was depressed and didn’t know why. After a visit to my doctor, I was told I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and walked away with a prescription to an acid blocker and an antidepressant — not the answer I was looking for. That same week, my dog was losing patches of her hair. “The veterinarian asked, ‘What are you feeding her?’ It was like a light-bulb went off for me. I went home and immediately changed my own diet too.
I started limiting carbohydrates and adapting a nutrient-rich diet, now know as the ketogenic diet. Seeing results, I decided to pursue a degree in nutrition and exercise physiology.
I have become an international bestselling author of over 20 books including “Quick and Easy Ketogenic Cooking” and “Keto: The Complete Guide to Success on The Ketogenic Diet”. My books and recipes have been featured by Halle Berry, Al Roker on Good Morning America, Valerie Bertinelli and others.
I have been helping clients with a ketogenic lifestyle for almost 20 years.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I believe my success comes from my hard work ethic. My dad owns a plumbing & heating business and I saw how hard he worked. He instilled determination and dedication to me. I work every single day, even on holidays. I don’t mind it. It doesn’t feel like work. It never did. Especially writing books is extremely demanding. People think writing a cookbook is easy but on the contrary, it’s much harder than other types of books. I’ve written both nutrition books and cookbooks and let me tell you, I have 2 dishwashers and I’ve broken both of them, I take my own food photos which is not easy and takes a lot of creativity to capture the deliciousness of the recipe, it also takes a lot of time & money going to the grocery store for ingredients to practice recipes (which do not always workout well)! However, I LOVE the process!
I also love getting emails and messages from clients telling me their success of losing weight, getting off blood pressure medication, reversing type 2 diabetes or osteoporosis, no longer suffering with dementia…. The list goes on! It’s the best job in the world.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I would absolutely choose this job. It’s so rewarding! I can’t go anywhere without getting recognized. Even walking the beach, people approach me daily to tell me how their life has changed with my help and recipes!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.KetoMaria.com
• Instagram: @mariaemmerich
• Facebook: Keto Adapted
• Linkedin: @mariaemmerich
• Twitter: @mariaemmerich
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@MariaEmmerich/videos
• Other: Also on instagram:
  @mariaemmerich_recipes