Knowledge Base › Deb Kennedy, PhD - Culinary Medicine: A Focus on Protein

Are protein powders and supplements actually bio-avaiable to the human body or are we just ingesting expensive transients?

Culinary Medicine: A Focus on Protein

Deb Kennedy, PhD - Culinary Medicine: A Focus on Protein

Recorded

This event was on February 6, 2025

Join Dr Deb for a live culinary experience that shows how to shift from animal to plant-based proteins with ease and flavor. Discover how reducing animal protein can benefit your health and the planet while still creating meals that satisfy. We’ll tackle common resistance to plant proteins, explore simple flavor-enhancing techniques, and demonstrate practical swaps for everyday dishes. Leave inspired and equipped to make plant-based eating a delicious and effortless part of your routine!

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Question

Chris Dunmall

Are protein powders and supplements actually bio-avaiable to the human body or are we just ingesting expensive transients?

Answer

So like with any other food and or supplement, we don't absorb a hundred percent of it. Um, what I do know is that whe protein is absorbed faster than other proteins that each of our bodies has, has only a maximum amount of protein it can absorb. Um, and then it just stops absorbing it. You do absorb the protein from protein powders. Um, yes, they are expensive. Um, do you need them? That's an individual choice. I know. So for instance, my college age child comes home, he's super starving. He's already had three meals and a bunch of snacks, so he'll throw together a protein drink and then he is fine for the night. So I don't say go to that first, second or third, but if it's something that allows you to get the protein in that you need and you're not thinking you need a ton of protein, um, because you really don't, um, and you're getting enough usually from your diet, then yes, protein powders.

Deb Kennedy, PhD

PhD Nutritionist

drdebkennedy.com

*Deb Kennedy, PhD* nutritionist, chef and Value-Based Medicine certified, is dedicated to helping people improve their health through food. She received her Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from Tufts University, and previously held roles with Tufts Human Nutrition Research Center for Aging, Yale’s Prevention Research Center, Babies and Children’s Hospital at New York Presbyterian, Cornell University, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. She also held the position of first Chair for Best Practices at the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative (CIA) and was an instructor in Culinary Nutrition at the New England Culinary Institute. A pioneer in the growing field of culinary medicine, and self-proclaimed food warrior, Dr. Kennedy is the author of multiple books, including The Culinary Medicine Textbook, a five-volume publication to date that uses her research in food, flavor, eating and nutrition to lay out the concepts and fundamental topics needed to master culinary medicine. For the last several years, Deb, along with 40 nutritionists and a dozen chefs from around the world, created culinary competencies for nutrition recommendations. She has developed the Food Coach Academy based on this work, which is delivered in a science-based modular format that provides individuals with expertise needed to use the power of food to transform health.