For women, protein is often thought of as something only men or weight-lifters will prioritize in their weekly diet. Protein is often associated with bulking up and something to help you put on weight, an unappealing perspective for women who are often looking to stay trim and feel energized.

Protein has a few unexpected benefits that women will find desirable, and that includes keeping the pounds in check. Take a look at these 3 lesser-known benefits of protein for women and common myths about protein that may be keeping you away from this component of nutrition. 

Maintaining your weight

For starters, it’s funny when you first learn that protein is something that helps you maintain your weight when most people associate protein as something that is going to contribute to you going up on the scale. It actually works to help you burn calories which in turn means you can use it to maintain your weight or even lose weight.

Because of protein’s high thermic effect on food, your body is burning a lot of the calories from the protein just in the digestion process. This means that when you consume 50 calories of protein, your body will be burning around 1/4^th of that during digestion, something unique to protein as it has the highest TEF or thermic effect of food.

It takes much more energy to digest fats and carbs compared to protein. Protein is a good choice for more fat burning and it’s also been shown to curb that appetite. A lower appetite is another great way to keep your waistline in check and those that tend to feel hungry all day are likely not getting enough protein. Your body will take longer to digest protein compared to carbohydrates which means you’ll stay full longer.

Beauty benefits

Another great perk of protein that women will love is that it will contribute to many areas of beauty. For starters, protein will help you to keep protected from dryness especially when it comes to hair, skin, and nails.

If you have damaged tissue such as your skin, hair, and nails, protein helps with repairing damaged tissue and increasing cell turnover. You’ll also find protein is great for strong nails, structural support in the makeup of your hair, skin, and nails, and elasticity in the skin.

Boost your immune system

Anything to boost the immune system is something that you want to be sure to incorporate into your daily nutrition. Make sure to get plenty of protein if you want to boost your immune system. Not only will protein help you build muscle, but it can contribute to strengthening your immune function.

Common myths about protein

You may have heard rumors about protein that have turned you away from consuming much of it. One of the rumors is that high-protein diets are hard on kidneys. It turns out that protein is not harmful to your kidneys unless you have a kidney condition, in which case you would want to talk to your doctor. You’ll just need to remember to keep hydrating while keeping up your protein intake.

Another rumor is that protein will cause you to look too bulky and that eating protein will make you feel too tired. Protein aids in stabilizing your energy levels, likely because you do not need to consume as much food throughout the day and it won’t make you too bulky you are not loaded with testosterone like men. Any excess protein will just break down into amino acids to be used for fuel or will flush out.

Protein is incredibly important and essential to your nutritional health. Make sure to incorporate protein in your diet to not miss out on supplying your hormones, neurotransmitters, and muscle tissue with what they need. These are a few of the lesser-known benefits of protein for women.