Kimkins Sued - Again

This time by the City of Corona. For not applying and paying for a business license. The fee, including penalties, is a mere $150. Heidi Diaz can afford to run google ads for hundreds, or perhaps thousands of dollars, but not pay $150 to her city? Heidi Diaz that bought a house for cash? That bought two brand new cars for cash? That earned millions from defrauding people over the internet?

Sure, not applying for a business license in the first place might have been an oversight on Heidi's part. After all, she is not selling anything in Corona, but just operating an internet business out of her Corona house.

But surely the attempts by the city to collect the money could not have been ignored due to an "oversight". Heidi probably thinks that the city is not entitled to any money from her. Or, she might just be trying to avoid the home inspection that may be required when you operate a business in your house.

Kimkins Hunk

That is what Kimmer calls the latest success story, a handsome Hunk. He claims to go to the gym at least four times per week, and perhaps if he exchanged some cardio for weights, I would call him a hunk too. But, I digress.

This Derek, like many of the recent success stories, turned up on Kimkins.con after he had lost his weight. He never participated in the support forums, never took part in a challenge, never asked any questions. Just suddenly arrives on Kimkins.con and posts his before and after pictures. Then finds LCF and comes in to "defend his name". Providing inconsistent answers when asked questions.

I have no doubt that "Derek" is a real person. But where did he come from? Some Kimmer supporter's son, brother, nephew, neighbor, friend? Did he lose 125 pounds? On Kimkins? I have no idea, and I couldn't care less. It's beside the point.

In my opinion, the point is that Derek promotes a fraudulent business.

Kimmer's defenders (how people can still defend this woman is beyond my comprehension) claim that Kimkins.con is not committing fraud any longer and we Ducks are just meanies that will not allow Kimmer to operate her business in peace. In their opinion, we have achieved what we wanted; the diet doesn't promote starvation levels of calories any longer and the Russian bride photos are gone.

To me, it's irrelevant whether fraud is still committed on Kimkins.con or not. Kimkins.con was created by fraud. There would never have been a Kimkins.con if Kimmer had not claimed to have lost 198 lbs and kept it off for years.

If I buy a car with a check that bounces, should I be allowed to keep the car just because I presently do not write any bad checks?

Of course not.

Kimkins.con should be shut down.

Kimkins Lawsuit 1 Yr Anniversary

Wishing all the plaintiffs Happy Anniversary!

A lot has happened in one year. The Ducks have worked tirelessly to uncover more lies. Pulled thousands of weeds. Sent in complaints to agencies and consumer groups. Learned web technology and tools. Set up forums. Formed friendships that will last long after the Lawsuit is over and done with.

And we are not done yet. We are still patiently waiting for the trial or settlement that will take Kimkins.con down. I have no doubt it will happen.

Heidi Diaz is probably less happy with what has happened since the lawsuit was filed. She has been forced to clean up her site and remove fraudulent pictures. She has seen droves of members leaving and probably very few new ones replacing them. She has been blogged about. She has had to make deposition where she admits to lying. No, it's not been a good year for Heidi.

And to think that all this could have been avoided, had she only given a refund to the members she banned. Or, it would probably have been enough not to deny Jeanessa a refund. I bet she wishes she could take that back.

Camp Carbaway Closing

The former Kimkins Admin Tippy Toes created Camp Carbaway in December last year when she left Kimkins. It was supposed to be a "safe" place for Kimkins "refugees". I never figured out what it would be "safe" from, more than that Tippy herself needed a place where she would be accepted as the majority of the lowcarb community shunned her at that point.

From all indications, Tippy intended to make this into a business, registering an LLC and charging a $19.95 membership fee after the initial, free registration. That didn't work out. Who would pay to join her board when there are so many free boards available? I think she had greatly overestimated her popularity.

She turned the board over to Brian and Heather, the couple she had brought with her from Kimkins that helped her set it up. Tippy stayed on as an admin.

The board did not grow. It remained a small place with some 100 members with probably not more than half of them active. It was mainly calm for a long time, with just a few bannings here and there.

Personally, I had guessed a year for the board's existence. It is very hard to keep a board alive with so few members. People drop out due to other priorities in life, and when fewer and fewer people participate, it generally just fizzles out due to lack of interest.

That didn't happen. The Camp went out with a bang. And what was the cause? The rumor blames Tippy.

It seems that Tippy has learned nothing from her previous experiences. She brings drama wherever she goes. She is an expert at turning people against each other by working behind the scenes.

The rumor further says that first Tippy was stripped of her Admin powers but when not even that helped, they are shutting down the board and starting over without Tippy.

Now, the only refugee is really Tippy. Where is she going to show up next? Will she be welcome? Trying to join some board anonymously will not work. Her writing style is much too distinct, as is her method of operation.

What do Kimkins and Zero Carb have in Common?

Kimkins' K/E (Kimmer Experiment) is a meat only diet. So is Zero Carb. The difference is that K/E is lean meat only (preferably skinless chicken breast) while the Zero Carb woe (way of eating) advocates fat meat and even added fats (preferably beef and a 80% fat, 20% protein ratio).

Both diets do not allow vegetables, no fruit, no dairy, no carbs. K/E includes eggs, but even that is discouraged on Zero Carb.

But the most scary similarity between these two diets is the self-proclaimed diet gurus that promote them; Kimmer for Kimkins and Charles for Zero Carb. None of them have any nutritional qualifications but freely dispense their "expert advice" on the internet. Just look at the Ask Kimmer on Lowcarbfriends and the Zero Carb thread on Jimmy Moore's forum.

The similarities are striking. For example:

Kimmer says that zero cals is absolutely fine as long as you have body fat. Charles says that Zero Carb is suitable for anyone, even pregnant women.

Kimmer has her own definition of "real ketosis". Charles is talking about "ketoadaption" and claims that Zero Carbers are not in ketosis, despite the 80% fat/20% protein diet.

Both state their opinions as facts. Anybody questioning these facts is ridiculed by the diet guru, and the loyal followers that quickly chime in with their support.

"Studies" are referenced, but only the ones that support their opinion. When other studies are quoted, or when the simplistic interpretation of the referenced studies is questioned, the question is dismissed as not relevant or completely ignored.

There is a lot more, but I suggest you go and see for yourself.

Last, but not least, Jimmy Moore's support of these self-proclaimed diet gurus is very similar. He has now denounced Kimmer, but that was due to being forced by an outcry from the lowcarb community. He is still strongly supporting Charles, and most likely loves the increased blog and forum traffic the present debate is giving him.

Personally, I have a hard time to see that a diet on exclusively ground beef (hamburger) from Walmart has much nutritional similarity to the wild animals that the Mackenzie Eskimos ate 100 years ago (which is the study quoted over and over again by Charles for support of the Zero Carb diet). But this is the subject for another blog post.

UPDATE
The similarities between Kimkins and Zero Carb continue. Jimmy Moore just announced that he will no longer allow the Zero Carb people on his forum and Charles will open his own forum. I wonder if there will be a "lifetime" membership offered for a nominal fee.