10 Things I Hate About Rice Cakes

Last Saturday I was heading to the gym with the family and, realizing breakfast was a while ago, I quickly grabbed a snack before jumping in the car - rice cakes.

In my attempt to capture more authentic content for social media, I wanted to share my pre-workout snack on Instagram. But my gut flipped. I hate rice cakes.

I mean, clearly, I don't hate how they taste; I was eating them! But I hate what rice cakes are to so many people, what they stand for, and I didn't want to contribute to the problem.

Let me explain...

Over the years of coaching female athletes on nutrition, I cannot tell you how many times I have seen rice cakes on food logs. Rice cakes for pre-workout, snacks, as a side to lunch, with toppings for dessert, in place of bread for a sandwich, used crumbled up instead of granola or instead of croutons on salad. So. Many. Girls. Eat.  So. Many. Rice. Cakes. In. So. Many. Ways!

Funny enough, before establishing my business for fueling female athletes I worked nearly 4 years in an exclusively male population, Air Force Special Operations. Guess how many rice cakes I saw on food logs for those male athletes?

NONE. 

At least none that I can remember. (I'm not saying men never eat rice cakes but it was not a common thing that I noticed, unlike their affinity for energy drinks and beef jerky on the other hand). 

But then I started working exclusively with female athletes, and boom - rice cakes are everywhere.

But the problem isn't with the rice cakes themselves ... I don't believe any food is "bad" and again, I buy them myself occasionally. The problem isn't the rice cake itself. The problem is they weren't a great choice for my clients.

These girls were coming to me needing nutrition help. They were under-fueled, under-nourished, low on energy, not performing well, injured, engaging in disordered eating, and other sub-optimal symptoms of an inadequate diet...

At a wimpy 7g of carbs per cake, rice cakes were NOT helping them reach their nutrition goals.

I found myself constantly reminding girls that if they simply replaced their rice cakes for bread, a bagel,a cup of real rice, or a slice of real cake - for goodness sake- then a lot of their fueling problems could be solved!!

But it stems back to the ongoing cultural messaging that so many girls and women have heard and subconsciously adopted throughout the years: 

• "Eat less"

• "Eat lower calorie"

• "Careful of the carbs"

I hate that rice cakes fit the idea of what a "healthy choice" is for girls and women who are constantly scared of eating unhealthy or gaining weight. To me, culture has identified rice cakes as healthy, and yet a bowl of white rice is unhealthy - untrue and absolutely frustrating for a dietitian! The problem describing what society thinks is healthy vs. unhealthy is part of a larger problem that many dietitians refer to as "Diet Culture." Click here to read "What is Diet Culture" on my old website (I'm still navigating the best way to merge the two websites).

So over the years, I began to hate rice cakes. My clients have heard me tell them to stop eating rice cakes. I posted about it on social media back in 2022  - and received lots of criticism from the defenders trapped in diet culture. There was a decent population that agreed with me saying things along the lines of "I get what you're saying. Bread has more carbs than rice cakes. BUT..."

Here it comes...

"But I still like them."

I get it. I do.

I like them too. 

Maybe it's the crunch. Maybe it's the flavors (white cheddar is my favorite). Maybe it's the versitile ways we can use them. Either way, as much as I hate the idea of rice cakes, I do still like rice cakes.

So as I sat there eating my pre-workout rice cakes in the car I thought "How can I express this relationship with rice cakes so that people will understand?"

And as a child of the '90's, there's nobody who could understand this hate-to-love/love-to-hate relationship more than Kat Stratford, aka Julia Stiles of 10 Things I Hate About You. And thus ... my poem was formed in the next 10 minutes as we drove to the gym.

I hate the way you don't have enough carbs

and eating you won't get me far.

I hate the way you break so easily.

I hate when you get crumbs in my car.

I hate the way you're so low in calories and promoted as a health food

I hate diet culture so much; it always puts me in a bad mood

I hate when people eat you plain

And when they add things on top

I hate that they think they're being "good"

And even worse, when they act like the Food Cop

I hate the way people are scared of bread

and think rice cakes will make them small.

But mostly I hate that I don't hate you.

Not even close. Not even a little bit.

Not even at all.

You can check out and comment on the original Instagram post here.

So now that you understand my hate-to-love relationship with rice cakes, let's talk about how to fit them into a female athlete's diet in nutritious and delicious ways:

PRE-WORKOUT

• If you ate a full meal with 60-100g of carbs 1-2 hours before your workout or practice, you can have 1-2 rice cakes as a quick and easily digestible source of 14g carbohydrates in the 15-30 minutes before your workout.

• If you'd like to use rice cakes as your pre-workout meal, about 1 hour before a session, you'll need to add toppings to get closer to 60g of carbohydrates:

  • 2 rice cakes + 2 Tbsp nut butter + 1 banana sliced + 2 tsp honey drizzle or jam spread

  • You can use the same recipe but use 1/4-1/2 cup berries instead, but they are lower in carbohydrate than a banana and you should likely have 3 rice cakes, or potentially 4, in this scenario.

    
    

POST-WORKOUT

• If this was a non-glycogen depeating workout, female athletes could eat 4 rice cakes for approximately 30g carbohydrates. You can top them with protein for recovery:

  • 3oz chicken salad

  • 1 Tbsp hummus + 2 oz deli meat & 1oz sliced cheese

  • 3/4 cup cottage cheese with siracha drizzle or everything bagel seasoning for savory OR a few berries and honey drizzle for sweet

• If this was a glycogen-depeating workout or endurance-based workout I honestly don't see these being a great choice. I'd much prefer female athletes eat a carbohydrate choice with more carbohydrates to reach at least 60-100g carbohydratein the post workout meal.

  
  

ANY TIME SNACKS

• You can repeat any of the above suggestions for a snack any time of day!

• Other personal favorites for toppings:

  • Cream cheese + cucumber + salt

  • Hummus + Olives + Siracha sauce

  • Hummus (try a flavored hummus)+ microgreens + hempseed

  • Cottage cheese + Tomato slices + salt

• Use them as 'toppings'

  • For athletes needing more carbs, please stick with granola but some female athletes may find a caramel or chocolate rice cake crumbled up to be a tasty topping on a Greek yogurt bowl with fruit or blended smoothie

  • For athletes needing more carbs, please stick with croutons or pretzels, but some other female athletes may use lightly salted, cheddar, or white cheddar rice cakes crumbled up on top of a salad or in soup!

Keep in mind, as yummy as these combinations sound, you can also do them on sliced bread, bagels, or English muffins. So the the many female athletes who truly need more carbohydrates, consider ditching the rice cakes ;)