I went to McDonalds for lunch today and decided that instead of getting a watered-down McDonalds soda, I would get a twenty-ounce bottle of Pepsi from the store. When I got to my desk and took the first sip, it tasted awful. When I looked at the bottle, I noticed that it wasn’t Pepsi – it was Pepsi Edge, which has fifty percent less sugar and carbs than regular Pepsi – and apparently one hundred percent less taste. This new carb craze that has hypnotized our nation has been irking me for quite a while now – but I finally reached my boiling point when Pepsi’s new tasteless and carbless soda ruined my lunch.

Carbs, or carbohydrates, are, according to Webster’s Dictionary, “Any of a group of organic compounds that includes sugars, starches, celluloses, and gums and serves as a major energy source in a diet.” When a person starts a low carb diet, they replace carbohydrates with fats and proteins, getting at least sixty to seventy percent of their daily caloric intake from fat, with carbohydrates making up less than ten percent – and in some cases – less than five percent of their daily caloric intake. A person on a low-carb diet would eliminate anything containing white flour or sugar, such as breads and honey; fruits that have a high glycemic level like watermelons, bananas, and raisins; pasta; white rice; and of course – candies, cakes and soft drinks.

Personally, I think this carb-craze is nothing but another new diet fad that is sending anyone with one ounce of fat on their bodies into a frenzy. Since the death of Dr. Atkins, who’s diet of the same name became even more famous after his passing, the world has gone carb crazy. Almost every commercial for something edible now lists the amount of carbs the product either has or doesn’t have, companies have added the words, “carb-free” or “no carbs” on labels of well-known products, and some companies have even released brand-new low-carb or no-carb products like the aforementioned disgusting Pepsi Edge – and believe it or not – a low carb beer.

If people want to diet, that’s fine, I wish them luck. But why does everything that we as a society know and love have to change with each new diet fad that catches everyone’s eye? While the world at large may be counting carbs, I could care less how many carbs are in my food, it doesn’t matter to me what the glycemic level of my banana is – and I would certainly prefer to drink a Pepsi with carbs – because apparently – carbs taste good. All I am saying is that I shouldn’t have to endure this carb craze, because if people want to care about carbs – let them do it without creating a low-carb society.

Besides, the Low Carb Diet, which is now seen as “the way to lose weight,” it is only temporarily popular – and probably just as effective as The South Beach Diet, or the Zone Diet, or the Protein Power Diet, or the Very Low Calorie Diet, or…