Food Coaching: From Prescription to Everyday Practice
March 11, 2026 | 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Speaker: Deborah Kennedy, PhD, chef UNE Adjunct Faculty Applied Nutrition, President Food Coach Academy
Webinar description: This session focuses on what happens after a nutrition prescription is given. Participants will explore how food coaching and culinary skill-building support clients in integrating nutrition guidance into everyday life without overwhelm. The talk introduces a modular food coaching approach for breaking broad recommendations into manageable steps and how to use the stages of change to identify the readiness of patients for Food is Medicine prescriptions and programs.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the webinar participants will be able to:
- Integrate food coaching strategies into nutrition practice to support clients in translating nutrition prescriptions into manageable, real-life actions without overwhelm
- Assess the role of culinary skills and food confidence in the feasibility and sustainability of nutrition recommendations, and identify opportunities to address skill gaps in practice.
- Use the Stages of Change framework to assess client readiness to determine appropriate timing and fit for Food Is Medicine interventions prior to enrollment or referral.
Moderator: To be confirmed
About the Speaker:
Dr. Deborah Kennedy is a chef, PhD-trained public health nutritionist and certified in value based medicine with over 25 years of experience bridging culinary arts, behavior change, and nutritional science—with a focus on patient empowerment, and health equity. Founder of The Food Coach Academy™, she develops science-based, culturally inclusive programs that teach individuals and institutions how to use food as a tool for healing. She has authored multiple textbooks in Culinary Medicine, built nationally recognized curricula, is a council member of Tufts Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute, and serves as a Special Advisor of Culinary Medicine at Rouxbe and Adjunct Professor at UNE in Applied Nutrition.
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