Women and Protein Shakes: Myths and Truths

María José García 8 min. of reading Women's Special Leave a comment

We are going to talk about a topic that is surrounded by uncertainty and many doubts. Said topic is Women and Protein shakes.

Index

1 What is Protein Powder?
2 Why take Protein Shakes?
3 Myths and legends about Protein Shakes
4 Benefits of taking Protein Shakes for Women
5 Can a Protein Shake replace a meal?
6 How much Protein do we need?
7 Women and Protein Shakes
8 Advice
9 Do not be afraid of Protein Shakes
10 Bibliography
11 Related Entries

What is Protein Powder?

Befoer anything, we need to know that protein is an indispensable element to strengthen and regenerate the muscles, tissues, fibers, nails, skin and hair

The so-called protein powder is a dehydrated format of whey, meat, soy, egg or casein among other sources. They help us increase our muscle mass, regain energy, bone mass and even calm the appetite to help us lose weight.

Evidently, our first choice to obtain the necessary protein for the body is a healthy diet. It has to be made up of quality protein sources, such as fish, chicken, turkey, red meat, eggs…

But we should not be afraid of complete or alternate with a quality protein shake

If you want to learn more about Protein Shakes, click here

Why take Protein Shakes?

At the beginning, high performance athletes took protein powder because they did not have time to eat 5 or 6 meals a day.

That is why the companies started to produced this type of dehydrated supplements that would provide all the nutrients.

In fact, they just had to mix these supplements with milk or water or with oats or fruit to regain energy and muscle mass. In fact, protein shakes became a very popular supplements both among athletes and the general public.

Protein powder has earned a place in the world of fitness for being a very complete nutrient. Moreover, it stimulates the metabolism, strengthens the muscle mass and help us lose weight

Protein supplements are useful when we need extra nutrients. Above all, they come in handy when we need more nutrients and energy than what we could recharge throughout the day. Although you can just use it to replace the protein from some meal or to look for a fast or slow absorption protein.

Myths and legends about Protein Shakes

Years ago, these drinks were aimed at men and nobody would have thought that women would start using them too. Thankfully, things have completely changed.

Nowadays, nutritionists recommended taking this type of protein to women.

This change did not occur overnight since women have a “negative” view of protein shakes. Obviously, this was due to the fact that these products were advertised to the male customers from the very beginning.

Male traits

They believed that they would start looking like men…

In fact, we still fall into the trap not only in advertising, but also in cinema or TV. Usually, we see big and muscular men in films, like Dwayne Johnson, also known as “the Rock”. Therefore, we associate drinking this type of shake with a bulky and masculine body.

We think that if we get used to drinking protein shakes we could gain weight and even look masculine. However, this is actually far from the truth.

All this is just a myth with no scientific evidence. In fact, it has been proven that it is more important for women to take this type of supplement. This is due to the fact that their muscle mass is slightly inferior to that of men, which means that they need extra help to strengthen the muscles and bones.

Moreover, protein shakes become indispensable to lose body fat during a fitness diet, workout or exercises to lose weight.

Like a healthy snack, taking this type of protein daily will help us feel satiated. Therefore, we will manage to lower the intake of food that can make us gain weight.

Benefits of taking Protein Shakes for Women

We need to clarify what are the benefits of protein shakes:

Stimulating the metabolism and eliminating fats
Supporting weight loss together with a healthy diet
Helping to gain muscle mass together with other nutrients and a proper workout routine
Strengthening the immune system
Increasing the serotonin and reducing the anxiety
Protecting the muscle tissue and supporting its regeneration
Meeting the energy requirements

Can a Protein Shake replace a meal?

The experts insist that protein shakes are a complement to the diet

You should not replace your meals with these drinks by any means. Otherwise, you may suffer a deficiency of important nutrients that can trigger serious health problems if it last for a while.

A protein shake does not equal a dish of rice, a protein shake just replace a protein supply from chicken or fish, for instance.

Do not forget that you should follow a balanced diet – dairy, red meat, chicken, fish, egg, quinoa, rice, pasta, potato… these products will help you increase your muscle mass.

You can use the protein powder to make delicious smoothies or any of these recipes with Whey Protein

How much Protein do we need?

Active People

Those who perform high intensity workouts should take 2 grams per kilo of weight

This intake provides the necessary nutrients to regenerate the fiber and mass you lost during the workout. However, there is still a lot of controversy regarding this advice. From 1g per kilo of lean mass up to 3 or 4, it all depends on each person, their situation and objective, we cannot make general statements.

Sedentary People

Now we have to deal with just the opposite. They should take 0.8-1 gram per kilo

If you exceed this amount, the protein would cause the opposite effects. In other words, you could gain weight since they provide calories (1g = 4kcal) like all the nutrients.

Women and Protein Shakes

The components of protein powder allow us – both men and women – to lose weight, enhance our performance, tone up the body and gain muscle mass

However, the fitness industry is coming up with protein supplements that are allegedly made for women. But do not be fooled, since they tend to do this just to earn more money. Protein is protein, men and women will get the same benefits from taking a whey, iso or any other type.

The protein intake needs to match your objective, not your sex

Advice

We needed to explain all this because an excess of any element will be harmful for our health

Taking too much protein can trigger abdominal inflammation and flatulence. Moreover, it can also cause fluid retention and even affect the kidneys or liver in very extreme cases, but this is quite rare.

That is why we suggest:

Learning and consulting a professional, specially if it is the first time you are taking protein shakes.
Reading the label of the products carefully.
Buying the products in a reliable store with quality warranty.
Checking their components and effects

Consult experts in the matter, a nutritionist that will be able to answer any question you may have. They will advise what is the best supplement to reach your goals

Do not be afraid of Protein Shakes

To conclude, we want to insist that we should not be afraid of protein shakes, specially women. Like we said before, they have many benefits for women.

From now on, consult your coach or nutritionist and give them a try if you haven’t already!