As I said earlier, it is better to avoid the extra paragraphs in the first place.
The find/replace method is fast but a slower method of removing the empty paragraphs will also work without the side-effect.
Code:
Sub KillEmpties()
Dim i As Long
For i = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count To 1 Step -1
If Len(ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(i).Range.Text) = 1 Then ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(i).Range.Delete
Next i
End Sub