There is No Such Thing as an Empty Calorie or Carbohydrate
By Katherine Metzelaar, MSN, RDN, CD
The language that you use to talk about food matters.
It impacts how you engage with it, feel about it, feel about yourself when eating it, and how much you judge others for eating it. It also impacts the shame and guilt that you feel for eating some foods, and not others. For example, let’s take a look at the use of the words “empty carbs or empty calories.”
Let’s get one thing out of the way: The notion of a food or food group being “empty” was created and designed by diet culture.
Diet culture elevates certain foods, while demonizing others, and one of the ways that it does this is by naming foods and categorizing them as a way to “other” certain foods and to distinguish their superiority. Some of the common categories of naming include things like “good/bad, healthy/unhealthy, clean/not clean, empty, etc.”
The reference to calories and carbohydrates being “empty” is attempting to describe a few things. In regards to an “empty calorie,” diet culture describes this as “foods and beverages composed primarily or solely of sugar, fats or oils, or alcohol-containing beverages.” Empty carbs refers to “any carbohydrate that is more “processed” and contains less fiber.” Often these carbs are referred to as “nutrient dense” or “smart choices”. Empty carbs are often thought of as “bad carbs”, therefore differentiating between its “good” counterpart.
These definitions are confusing and often leave the consumer (you), and me (the dietitian) with many questions. Who made these rules up? And why? How much fiber deems a carb “empty”? How little sugar or fat deems a calorie “empty”? Why do the rules keep changing? is this all arbitrarily decided?
Firstly, while there is a difference between the way the body processes white rice vs brown rice because of the fiber content, you MUST consider the impact of telling yourself to intentionally restrict your food intake. The human body’s neurotransmitters (brain messengers) are primed to protect you from danger and threats, including from not having enough food. The moment that you start imposing rules on a human brain about what to eat and what not to eat, it will start to experience more of a desire to want to eat those “forbidden foods.”
Secondly, diet culture likes to say that only certain calories (see units of energy that fuel your body and brain) are better than others. It’s incredibly elitist, reductionist, doesn’t consider things like access to food, the impact of food restriction, the importance of cultural/ethnic foods, and the benefits of diversity in the diet. Additionally, there’s a lot of misinformation out there about things like sugar.
Thirdly, food is never empty because you are not JUST eating for the consumption of nutrients, right? You eat for pleasure, joy, connection (to culture/heritage and other people), satisfaction and celebration. Diet culture tells you that food is not meaningful or valuable unless it’s “full of nutrients and fiber” without considering its impact on your mental and physical well-being.
So where does this leave you?
Usually it goes like this: you try for a while (the amount of time varies for each individual) to eat “not empty” carbs or calories and follow the rules around “being smart about carbs.” Then you start getting tired of those foods, you start staring longingly at the fresh white rice that your family has made or the chips on the table at a party or the white tortilla at the BBQ. And then eventually you eat the “empty food,” and maybe more than you had intended.
The fear, guilt, and shame pours in, and your brain is like, “we better get as much of this food as we can because we don’t know when we will have access to it again!” Then afterwards you start restricting again and blame yourself for not “having control.”
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Naming food as “empty” sets you up for the same restrict, binge, shame cycle as intentional restriction of food does, ie diets and “lifestyle changes.” Knowing and paying attention to the language you use to describe foods can significantly impact your relationship with food and the outcome of that interaction.
So what’s my encouragement for you?
Start examining if you hold beliefs around food being “empty” and start paying attention to how you think about those foods, how you feel when you eat those foods (“empty calories or carbs”), and how not eating them impacts you mentally and physically.
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Creating a better, more intuitive relationship with food takes time, especially when you have held strong beliefs about food where certain foods are acceptable while others are not. The caring dietitians from our Seattle, WA-based nutrition counseling practice would be honored to help you heal your relationship to food. We offer a variety of services including support for eating disorders, body image, intuitive eating, Bulimia treatment, Anorexia treatment, and chronic dieting. We also offer a body image support group. For more information, please feel free to visit our blog, FAQ, resources page, or contact us now!