SCAMMY Awards

Americans Against Self-Help Fraud is now accepting nominations for the 2009 "SCAMMY" Awards, which are given to Self Help Gurus for "excellence" in ripping off Americans with their falsehoods, false hopes, myths & half-truths!

Don't you think Heidi Diaz qualifies for every single one of these:

1. DUMB SPEAK AWARD - given for the most unintelligent thing uttered by a Self-Help Guru!

"Can I take that back?"

2. HYPOCRITE AWARD - given to the Self-Help guru with the biggest gap between their professed values and how they actually behave!

Eating sugar cookies while she was advising people to cut calories below 500 by eating egg whites and no more than 3 oz of lean meat per meal?

3. DADDY BIG BUCKS AWARD - given to the Self-Help Guru whose lifestyle shows that they are only in it for the money!

Banning members as they had already paid their "lifetime" fee and did not bring in any further revenue? Now having ads and selling anything; including Alli and Acai Berry with Colon Cleanse?

4. HOODWINKED AWARD - given to the Self-Help Guru who did the best job of tricking a celebrity into being their sponsor!

Remember the Lindsay Lohan Kimkins T-shirt? The photo shopped one? Plus submitting comments stating that other celebrities were using Kimkins?

5. BI-POLAR AWARD - given to the Self-Help Guru whose promises got the opposite results!

I think many ex-Kimkins dieters can testify to this one. Ending up heavier than before they started as the starvation diet more often than not lead to binges and regain of any weight lost.

6. BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MIS-LEADING ROLE AWARD - given to the Self Help Guru who did the best job of deceiving the public!

Pretending to be an 118 lbs slim woman in a white dress for 6-7 years on a large lowcarb forum? Not to mention the phone interview she did with Jimmy Moore, still claiming to be 118 lbs while she probably topped 350 lbs at the time. Or the Russian Bride pictures in Woman's World and on her website.

7. BERNIE MADOFF LIFETIME MIS-ACHIEVEMENT AWARD - given to the best, all around Self-Help Guru who did the most to diminish the human race!

I don't know where to start. Just read her posts on LCF where she over and over again belittled dieters that did not agree with her. Or, check out Kimkins Survivors to see what happened to people trying to follow her dangerous diet advice.

Why don't you head over to the SCAMMY Awards and cast your vote?

Kimkins Lost Its Cult Status

Remember how we just a year back used to call Kimkins a cult? That was at a time where staunch supporters still visited blogs to defend Kimmer. When they were talking about the anti-kimkins haters and Kimkins.con being a "safe" place. When the members hung onto every word that came out of Kimmer's keyboard. When the forum was full of activity and people expected to lose a pound a day. When cutting calories still was the only way to weight loss.

No more. Kimkins is now just another diet forum. There is nothing different going on there than on any other FREE forum. People join challenges. Fall off the plan. Come back and start over. Just as on any other diet site.

There are a few long timers there, but it's questionable if they are Kimmer supporters. Some lend their name to advertising, no doubt with the expectation of making some money off it. Others stay there for reasons that I can just guess at:

• Staying with friends in their challenge groups
• The diet works for them, at least for now
• Blaming Kimkins dieters that developed health problems on their own poor judgement; they should have known better
• Feeling sorry for Kimmer. We all know how it feels to be overweight, to fail on a diet.
• Having sympathy for Kimmer because the anti-kk attack her.
• Not feeling "safe" going to another diet site as following the Kimkins diet is largely frowned upon by the lowcarb community

I just hope they all come out unharmed at the end.

Kimmer, Heidi Diaz, must have felt on top of the world a year and a half ago, when Kimkins was at its biggest. Money rolling in, more than she had ever seen before. People worshipping her and seeing her as their savior.

I wonder how she feels today? Class action suit underway. Bankruptcy court perhaps not ending up the way she wanted.

Weight Loss Ads

Despite having applied for bankruptcy, Heidi Diaz continues to blow her ill gotten money on Google Ads. It's sort of funny to read them when you know that they are written by a morbidly obese, diabetic, woman that never lost weight on her own diet despite having had gastric bypass surgery.

The ads that come up today include:

• Turbo fast weight loss
• Amazing "no exercise" diet secret
• Supercharged low carb diet
• Works fast
• Low carb diabetic diet
• Fast!
• Bariatric gastric band surgery diet
• Xtreme "no exercise" diet
• Fast detox weight loss
• Insulin resistant diet
• Turbo fast fat loss
• Lose stomach fat fast
• Postpartum weight loss
• Master cleanse low carb

Does this woman look like she knows what she is talking about?

Yes, sure, the picture is a couple of years old, but reportedly she really haven't lost much compared to this picture. And it was taken at a time when she claimed to be a svelte 118 lbs!

Of course, the ads use other "success" stories now. Somebody that starved off the weight and agreed to become a poster girl (or guy) for Kimkins.con. Possibly with compensation in form of affiliate payouts. I hope it is worth the money, which I'm sure isn't much. Personally, I would be embarrassed to represent this woman.

And while there are people that did lose weight on Kimkins, I wouldn't call them a success before they have managed to keep that weight off for several years. Far too many end up looking like Heidi, ending up heavier than before they started. Severe dieting does much more harm than good, in my opinion.

Anoretix

Anoretix is a weight loss pill. Who on earth came up with this name? Yes, I know that "anorexic" literally means "loss of appetite" but don't most of us associate it with anorexia nervosa?

Anorexia nervosa is a serious, often deadly, eating disorder. Medusa has written extensively about it. Eating disorder victims should not have any further encouragement to starve themselves.

I wonder if there was some marketing team behind this name. Or just an ignorant internet marketer. Very ignorant.

The Anoretix web site is a typical weight loss product sales page. The head line announces "I lost 12 pounds in 72 hours" next to a stock photo of a slim woman with tape measure. Some testimonials. Promise of a lifetime money back guarantee. Whose lifetime?

By the way; these testimonials? How many of you go back to a web site where you made a purchase just to submit a testimonial? And post progress updates? I have never done it. I don't even give feedback reviews on Amazon for a product I like.

Not that I believe for a minute that this product is any more helpful for weight loss than any other pill. Actually, it is a combination of some 9 other weight loss products that all are supported by some undisclosed studies and research. Just the usual "clinically proven" nonsense. And the "patented" or "patent pending" statement. As if a product needs to be proven effective to get a patent.

Many affiliates have jumped on the Anoretix train and it seems that very few of them have any knowledge about weight loss. A google search returns 40,000 hits. Blogs, ads, web sites. Hoping to cash in from desperate dieters. I hope they all fail.

One of the sites I looked up actually provided some interesting info; inadvertently, I'm sure. They said: "Most diet pills have about a 1,000% markup meaning that if it costs $3 to manufacture — companies sell it for $30. Which means we consumers are getting ripped off."

You can say that again. We consumers get ripped off!

The Kimkins Diet Does Not Work

At least not for the founder, Kimmer or Heidi Diaz.

After having been exposed as obese instead of the svelte 118 lbs she has claimed for 6 plus years, Heidi Diaz committed to losing weight, starting in November last year. She was updating her weight loss stats (even though those might have been purely fictional) and putting up more or less photoshopped "progress" pictures of herself.


All that stopped a few months ago. No new weight loss announced. No new pictures posted. Despite the "2008 pinky swear" challenge she is participating in where everybody except Kimmer report their weight. Despite having promised "good numbers" to be announced early May.

Nobody at Kimkins questions Heidi's lack of weight loss reports. The few loyal oldtimers know better as they don't want to get banned from the site. And the paid sockpuppets don't care.

It is likely that the Kimkins Diet has failed Kimmer, again. It is likely that she is back at the weight of last summer (350+ lbs?) when the P.I. Robert Charlton took this picture posted on Slamboards:

Kimkins Legal Troubles

Metabolife's former CEO sentenced to 6 months

Ellis pleaded guilty to misleading FDA
By Mike Freeman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

June 10, 2008

The former chief executive of dietary supplement maker Metabolife International was sentenced to six months in federal prison yesterday for lying to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding an ephedra-based weight-loss product.

Michael J. Ellis, 55, pleaded guilty in November to one count of making false statements to the FDA in 1999 about Metabolife 356. In addition to prison time, U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. ordered Ellis to pay a $20,000 fine.

According to prosecutors, Ellis and the company sent letters to the federal agency saying they had “never received a notice from a consumer that any serious adverse health event has occurred because of the ingestion of Metabolife 356.”

Metabolife's own documents showed that it had received many reports from consumers of seizures, heart attacks, strokes, loss of consciousness and other serious illnesses, said the U.S. Attorney's Office.

At the time Metabolife was saying it had a “claims-free history,” the FDA was considering tighter regulations on products containing ephedra. Metabolife was one of the largest dietary supplement companies in the United States, largely based on sales of Metabolife 356.

In 2002, the company turned over reports of 14,000 ephedra-related events that the company had previously not disclosed to the FDA. The FDA eventually banned ephedra, and in 2004, Ellis and Metabolife were indicted on several counts of making false statements.

Metabolife filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in July 2005 in the wake of hundreds of civil lawsuits.
Ellis' lawyer, Charles La Bella, said Ellis is no longer working in the dietary supplement industry.

Ellis chose to plead guilty to close this chapter in his life and move on, La Bella said, because the lawsuits and bankruptcy cases are no longer pending.

“That's why it was important that he get this behind him,” La Bella said. “He's happy this is over and he can get on with the rest of his life.”

The Class Action Lawsuit against Kimkins is for fraud and has nothing to do with adverse health events.

However, legal actions by the FDA might follow. While Kimkins does not sell any supplements, promoting dangerous diet practices might not be all that legal either. Dieters following Kimkins and the advice given by Kimmer (Heidi Diaz) reportedly have suffered hair loss, heart palpitations, dizziness, thrashed thyroid, etc. Not to mention the documented promotion of laxative abuse.

Tippy Toes, a former Admin, has admitted to seeing reports of adverse health events. She didn't believe them, but she did see them. I am sure Heidi Diaz did too. She better not lie to the FDA about it.

Success from doing Kimkins?

Dee's success picture allegedly taken 4/18/2008 @ 239 lbs

Dee's picture taken in August? 2007 @ ??? lbs

Dee's picture taken in November 2007 @ 270 lbs

Dee's "before" picture from 11/2005 @ 350 lbs

So when did Dee start Kimkins? She has said herself that she started halfhearted in June 2007. In her first post she states:
Failed LAPBAND surgery in 2006, which put me $17,000 in debt. (I did lose 75 lbs and have kept off 60).

If this statement is true, she started Kimkins with a 60 lbs weight loss from 350 lbs, or at 290 lbs. This rings true looking at the liquid diet she did just before starting kimkins where she reported getting down to 285 lbs on April 17, 2007.

If Dee now weighs 239 pounds, her weight loss on Kimkins from June 2007 to May 2008 has been a total of 50 pounds (and not the 108 stated in the newsletter).

Weight Loss Success Story

Dee, the latest Kimkins' sockpuppet has a blog post with the title "KIMKINS - the perspective of a success story".

So, is Dee a weight loss "success story"? She has lost 100 pounds in 11 months or so, starting at around 345 pounds in June 2007. Certainly an accomplishment, but does it constitute a weight loss "success story"? In my opinion, it's too early to tell. She is still following a diet that has proven to not be sustainable for many that have tried it. If Dee comes back in a year and reports that she has kept the 100 pounds off, I will consider it a "success story". Until then, the jury is still out.

Remember that Dee's "diet adviser" Kimmer said that she once lost 100 pounds in 6 months. Was that a "success story"? Judging from the picture below, I would say no.



Where is the "success" in losing weight if it's not going to stay off?

Dee seems to have the same opinion as Kimmer when it comes to claiming being an expert on weight loss. I fail to see how many years of unsuccessfully trying to lose weight, or failing to keep weight off make anyone an "expert".

This is what Dee posted on the BBB Kimkins' review:

I have more than 30 years of dieting experience, so I feel more than qualified. If you are interested here is my resume:
1) Weight Watchers....more times than I can count
2) System 7......twice
3) Diet Workshop.....more than 5 times
4) Weigh Down workshop....once
5) LAPBAND....once
6) Do it yourself'ers.....more than a dozen.
7) Hospital based Liquid Diet....twice

And now, Kimkins of course.

Kimmer Fails to do Kimkins

Who would pay $79.95 for "expert" advice from a "Diet Guru" that can't even stay on her own diet? This is from a recent post on her member-only-$79.95-board:

"We went to dinner for my son's birthday and I wasn't 100% on plan. Oddly, I didn't cheat on purpose. I ordered something that I've always ordered (non Kimkins) and in chatting with people I didn't think twice about it. But the shocker was having a fruit punch drink which I never do (our friends ordered a round) and I sipped it without thinking. Fruit juice. Carb central ... and not good for diabetics. Haven't had pineapple juice in forever (and I love it) so live and learn and I'm planning a coping strategy for the next time out. Planning to cheat, I can understand ... but not thinking before ordering? What was that about?"


This is a "Diet Guru" that has been pushing her starvation diet for eight years on lowcarb boards on the internet. Sounding like she knew what she was talking about. Not accepting any cheats. Not accepting any weaknesses. Not accepting any excuses.

So now it's all acceptable because she can not do the diet? Asking for sympathy for cheats that she knows people can relate too? Birthday dinner. Not thinking. Not planning. Did she ever listen to herself?

What on earth does this woman provide that dieters can not find on free low carb boards? Where they can actually interact with real people and not sock puppets? Where they can get to know real friends that don't want anything from them? That don't lie to them and take their money?

New Kimkins Sock Puppets

I believe there is a large number of sock puppets on Kimkins and that Kimmer, SingingLass, Gary and possibly other loyal minions are busy keeping them all "alive".

While the earlier sock puppets mainly acted as cheerleaders and motivators ("Keep up the good work!", "I lost 20 pounds in 10 days!") the new breed is aimed towards keeping people at Kimkins.con despite the controversy.

A number of newbies or returning dieters are posting things like:

"I know about the controversy. I don't care. This diet is the only thing that is working for me. I've tried other lowcarb boards but they don't accept me there."

[Paraphrasing here as I do not have access and rely on secondhand reports.]

They are trying to tell the few remaining kimkinites that the only place "safe" and "friendly" for them is kimkins.con.

That is not true. The many free boards have challenges where any kimkins member would be welcome, even if they stay with low fat and low calories.

Just join one of the LCF Stillmans challenges and skip the dairy. It's the same thing.

Or, the LCF "Meat and Egg" challenge. Those girls are doing "Kimmer's Experiment (K/E)" but just not using the Kimkins label for it.

Amy Eating Low is another place where it's "safe" to do Kimkins.

Why stay at Kimkins.con? Continue to support the fraud? Having to watch what you are saying not to be banned? Not knowing how many of your friends are "fictional characters"?

Doesn't it bother them that prominent, long-time members leave or get banned? That Kimmer herself doesn't show the "turbo weight loss" she promises? That there is a pending lawsuit?

Will they stay until Kimkins.con is inevitably shut down? Why? Why not leave now?

Kimmer, your birthday is coming up soon

Remember when Kimmer started the "Kimmer back on track" challenge on Kimkins? She then said:

"Also, my birthday is May 10th and I will be 50 years old. It's my goal to reach goal by that date. What is my goal weight? I'll know it when I see it, but in the 130-150'ish range probably. I'm big boned and that will be good for me."


She presently weighs 256 pounds. That means that she needs to lose 106 - 126 pounds in 3 weeks. After having lost just 62 pounds in the previous 5 months.

Turbo weight loss? No faster diet, none? Apparently not for Kimmer herself. She must not want it bad enough.

Try Again, Article Gems

UPDATE:
It was just brought to my attention that there are two Article Gems sites. The owner quoted below, article-gems.com, has in fact removed all Kimkins articles.

The three Kimkins articles we found reside on articlegems.com. They have not even responded to emails sent to them.

Sorry about the confusion.

In a comment to Kimkins Scam, the owner of Article Gems said:

"Did I not take the time (half a day) to investigate what you said, to ask for further information - search through 50,000 articles to find what you were talking about - none of which I’m obligated to do. Yet I did it because I try to run a quality directory and I care about fellow human beings."

This was in response of Article Gems first being pointed out as an article service that did not initially agree that Kimkins' articles violated the TOS. However, eventually the articles were removed and we updated our blog posts to reflect this.

But it seems that the "half a day" work was all in vain. The article site is still picking up weeds. As pointed out by an observant weed chasing duck to me this morning, there are at least three Kimkins articles on the site today:

Kimkins search

Instead of manually removing them after the automatic article generator program has picked them up, perhaps try to tweak the settings in the program so it doesn't pick up articles with a Kimkins tag?

The Cult of the Narcissist

Like Kimmer, I like to reuse good information found on the web, but unlike Kimmer I give credit to my sources. The following article by Sam Vaknin was posted by v0xhumana on LCF.

Read it and see if it isn't a description of Kimmer. I think so.

The Cult of the Narcissist
By Sam Vaknin
Author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited"

The narcissist is the guru at the center of a cult. Like other gurus, she demands complete obedience from her flock: her spouse, her offspring, other family members, friends, and colleagues. She feels entitled to adulation and special treatment by her followers. She punishes the wayward and the straying lambs. She enforces discipline, adherence to her teachings, and common goals. The less accomplished she is in reality – the more stringent her mastery and the more pervasive the brainwashing.

The – often involuntary – members of the narcissist's mini-cult inhabit a twilight zone of her own construction. She imposes on them a shared psychosis, replete with persecutory delusions, "enemies", mythical narratives, and apocalyptic scenarios if she is flouted.

The narcissist's control is based on ambiguity, unpredictability, fuzziness, and ambient abuse. Her ever-shifting whims exclusively define right versus wrong, desirable and unwanted, what is to be pursued and what to be avoided. She alone determines the rights and obligations of her disciples and alters them at will.

The narcissist is a micro-manager. She exerts control over the minutest details and behaviors. She punishes severely and abuses withholders of information and those who fail to conform to her wishes and goals.

The narcissist does not respect the boundaries and privacy of her reluctant adherents. She ignores their wishes and treats them as objects or instruments of gratification. She seeks to control both situations and people compulsively.

She strongly disapproves of others' personal autonomy and independence. Even innocuous activities, such as meeting a friend or visiting one's family require her permission. Gradually, she isolates her nearest and dearest until they are fully dependent on her emotionally, sexually, financially, and socially.

She acts in a patronizing and condescending manner and criticizes often. She alternates between emphasizing the minutest faults (devalues) and exaggerating the talents, traits, and skills (idealizes) of the members of her cult. She is wildly unrealistic in her expectations – which legitimizes her subsequent abusive conduct.

The narcissist claims to be infallible, superior, talented, skillful, omnipotent, and omniscient. She often lies and confabulates to support these unfounded claims. Within her cult, she expects awe, admiration, adulation, and constant attention commensurate with her outlandish stories and assertions. She reinterprets reality to fit her fantasies.

Her thinking is dogmatic, rigid, and doctrinaire. She does not countenance free thought, pluralism, or free speech and doesn't brook criticism and disagreement. She demands – and often gets – complete trust and the relegation to her capable hands of all decision-making.

She forces the participants in her cult to be hostile to critics, the authorities, institutions, her personal enemies, or the media – if they try to uncover her actions and reveal the truth. She closely monitors and censors information from the outside, exposing her captive audience only to selective data and analysis.

The narcissist's cult is "missionary" and "imperialistic". She is always on the lookout for new recruits – her spouse's friends, her daughter's girlfriends, her neighbors, new colleagues at work. She immediately attempts to "convert" them to her "creed" – to convince them how wonderful and admirable she is. In other words, she tries to render them Sources of Narcissistic Supply.

Often, her behavior on these "recruiting missions" is different to her conduct within the "cult". In the first phases of wooing new admirers and proselytizing to potential "conscripts" – the narcissist is attentive, compassionate, empathic, flexible, self-effacing, and helpful. At home, among the "veterans" she is tyrannical, demanding, willful, opinionated, aggressive, and exploitative.

As the leader of her congregation, the narcissist feels entitled to special amenities and benefits not accorded the "rank and file". She expects to be waited on hand and foot, to make free use of everyone's money and dispose of their assets liberally, and to be cynically exempt from the rules that she herself established (if such violation is pleasurable or gainful).

In extreme cases, the narcissist feels above the law – any kind of law. This grandiose and haughty conviction leads to criminal acts, incestuous or polygamous relationships, and recurrent friction with the authorities.

Hence the narcissist's panicky and sometimes violent reactions to "dropouts" from her cult. There's a lot going on that the narcissist wants kept under wraps. Moreover, the narcissist stabilizes her fluctuating sense of self-worth by deriving Narcissistic Supply from her victims. Abandonment threatens the narcissist's precariously balanced personality.

Add to that the narcissist's paranoid and schizoid tendencies, her lack of introspective self-awareness, and her stunted sense of humor (lack of self-deprecation) and the risks to the grudging members of her cult are clear.

The narcissist sees enemies and conspiracies everywhere. She often casts herself as the heroic victim (martyr) of dark and stupendous forces. In every deviation from her tenets she espies malevolent and ominous subversion. She, therefore, is bent on dis-empowering her devotees. By any and all means.

The narcissist is dangerous.

Emphasis mine, and the changes from he/his to she/hers.

Tippy Toes Admits Acting as a Kimmer Sockpuppet

Tippy has still not publicly denounced the Kimkins Diet, and has not apologized for her role as a PR person and admin at Kimkins. Perhaps she is still of the same opinion she voiced when she tried to sign up at Amy's Eating Low forum that Medusa reported on:

"I suppose I am expected to make some sort of apology but really I am not sure what I am supposed to say."

In a statement by Tippy made on Mayberryfan's blog the other day she says:

"I feel extremely guilty for what I said to Christin and Deni on TV. Not that it makes it right but I was scripted by Heidi as to what to say to them."

Is this an apology? Blaming Kimmer? Didn't you say this on National TV? Even worse, if you didn't agree with it, you lied. Was the money worth it?

And then Tippy goes on to say that she didn't believe anything that Christin, Deni and Becky said until AmyB complained about the same problems:

"I do think back about Kimkins members complaining of being so cold all the time and I wonder now if their thyroids were screaming out to stop. But at the time I was cold losing weight too and thought it was just the way it was. I didn't believe what was being said about hair loss as I have mine BUT when AmyB started complaining I began to question her privatly. It was Amy who made me see the truth. And the truth is there are some serious side effects to Kimkins. I thought it was from doing the plan behind the plan, and that may well be but upon further digging I now see the plan behind the plan was THE plan for a long time as preached by "Kimmer". I apologize to those whom I didn't believe. Kimmer assured me it wasn't true, the Ducks were making these things up, and well, since I didn't suffer hair loss, I believed her--until I heard it from AmyB."

We did see the rant on LCF about the "Ducks" all being created by Catherine, the former business partner. What I can not understand is why it was easier to believe Kimmer, at the time a confirmed liar, than the former admins, Cutie, Kiki and all the people on LCF that you have known for years. Were we all liars, being orchestrated by Catherine? Was it the money that made Kimmer more believable than the rest of us?

With regards to Kimmer's sockpuppets on Kimkins, Tippy says:

"She asked me to take over for "Danielle" in the Bootcamp forum as "Danielle" was away. She later causually mentioned she was Danielle, as if I had know it all along."

Kimmer probably thought it was so obvious that "Danielle" was a sockpuppet so she couldn't believe you didn't know. The rest of us don't have much problem identifying sockpuppets over there. So what happened when you found out? Did you leave Kimkins? Demand that she stop using sockpuppets?

In an additional comment, Tippy says that the Ducks are "making fun of, bashing and exploiting posts of Campers". Where are these posts? I haven't seen them. (Well, with the exception of the huggiessssssss Fawn).

If Tippy refers to the post I made about maintenance, I actually thought she would be flattered to be mentioned together with Christin and Deni. I was mistaken. Tippy did not want to blame Kimkins for her problems to find a maintenance plan.

I especially love how Tippy talks about the Ducks. Still referring to us as if another species, she is now saying:

"I am starting to understand Ducks are not bad people."

Starting to understand? Bad people? So the hundreds of people posting on LCF with the combined goal of removing kimkins.com from the internet and bring Heidi to justice were considered bad people?

And as a reason for not speaking out Tippy claims:

"I have been silenced due to a bann from LCF. And I got banned from Eating Low too, as you may recall. I tried the blog but I was bombed with so much meanness and I found myself reacting very unkindly as a result. I can't allow myself to become that so I pulled the blog down and decided to just stay within Camp."

While I agree that the blog attempt didn't work out well, I would suggest you try it again. I, for one, really want to hear what you have to say. Not having access to the Camp, I can not see what you are saying there, unless it gets reported to me. Perhaps not accepting comments on your blog would allow you peace to write down what you want to say.

Kimkins in Las Vegas

Kimkins is planning a gathering in Las Vegas on July 18 - 20, 2008.

Do Kimkins members really believe that Kimmer intend to be there?

The court hearing for the Class Action Lawsuit is scheduled for July 15th! Is she planning to go to Vegas to drown her sorrows? I'm sure she will not have anything to celebrate.

And remember that this is a woman that is "shy" and suffers from agoraphobia. While we know that that isn't true, we do know what she said when discussing the previously planned Kimkins cruise:
"What a “relaxing” 5 days that would be. Staring, photos, whispering and full blog exposes when I return … not to mention sitting across the table from Jimmy. And don’t forget the stalkers. I never considered the cruise as a personal safety issue before."

Or, when the cruise organizer, Regandy, left Kimkins, remember how Typo Toes explained why a cruise wouldn't be a good idea:
"We have decided that a cruise would present a safety hazzard for Kimkins members as well as staff. However, rest assured we have some new gathering ideas in the works for next year. What we have in mind will be better and will geer more in tuned with Kimkins diets than an all you can eat fest cruise. I have cruised many times and it is not possible in my opinion to not gain some weight. So we are making positive changes in this area as well."

I don't see that the Vegas buffets would "geer more in tuned with Kimkins diets" than a cruise would, but of course, Tripsy is no longer at Kimkins. Her camping idea left to The Camp with Tippy herself. The cruise did take place, but not as a Kimkins event and no Kimkins admins were present.

Kimmer is chatting away on Kimkins as if she really intends to go to Las Vegas. She is discussing how to find good airfares and hotel rates. Just two days ago, she cautioned:

"Is everyone checking into flights & hotels? Booking ahead may get you a price bargain (or not risk the hotel you want being sold out during the popular summer Vegas season)."

This woman is truly evil. Kimmer is well aware that there most likely will not be a Kimkins in July 2008 and she has no intention of meeting up with any Kimkins members. You can not photoshop a real life appearance.

Why would she even suggest members spend money on buying airline tickets and paying for hotels? If you book a hotel package deal, you pay up front. Airline tickets are always paid in full at the time of booking. Kimmer must take pleasure in hurting people, physically and financially. I just hope that anybody that books this trip finds a way to enjoy themselves on their own. Don't expect Kimmer to be there. (Actually, if it were me, I would much prefer Kimmer not being there.)

Recovering from a Cult

Kimkins has been labeled as a cult in several blog posts:
Kimkins Cult Mentality
Kimkins Cult Mentality Revisited
Kimkins - A Cult

And the latest Kimkins defecter, AmyB, is also calling Kimkins a cult on her blog

Magicsmom says: Every one of us who was taken in by Heidi has to go through a process which is exactly like grieving. You go through stages, and I believe it is very similar to this:

The seven stages of grief are:

* Shock or Disbelief
* Denial
* Bargaining
* Guilt
* Anger
* Depression
* Acceptance and Hope

Why do people leave? How do people leave?

Members typically:

1. walk away

2. are thrown out (banned)

3. lose their group to dissolution

4. or are convinced to leave by outside people

in roughly that numerical order.

"Walkaways" may leave gradually because of love for family or friends or what is called "cognitive dissonance" — a growing realization that the ideals of the group are at odds with their actions. They may float into new groups or eventually return to their original group. Frequently they do not face the damage that they have endured, and they experience reduced functionality for many, many years.

Banned members are tossed out by their leaders or groups for real or imagined offenses — or to keep other members in line. This group may experience the most traumatic re-entrance into mainstream society. They usually have not rejected the beliefs or leader of their group and have the added guilt and shame of having been rejected.

Someone involved in the disbandment of their group may experience an ego-strengthening sense of power and control. If the group disbanded against their wishes, they may experience a depth of despair similar to a castaway (banned).

Those who are counseled out, through persuasions, or the like, usually experience the smoothest and quickest recovery.

reFOCUS: Recovering Former Cultists' Support Network

The keys to recovery after leaving a high-demand group or cult are:

Education or knowledge

Support

Patience

Education

The over-riding factor is education: educating oneself about what happened to you while in the group and why it still affects you after you leave. Its crucial to understand the techniques that were used to gain your compliance, to shut down your critical thought processes, to manipulate your experiences and your emotions, to isolate you psychologically and sometimes physically from gaining information and feedback from the world outside the group. These techniques have an effect for quite some time after you leave the group. And it is important to understand that these lasting effects are normal under the circumstances, and that they will begin to dissipate once you do understand them and can begin to unravel them.

Support

It is so important to build a support team for yourself. Look for people who are willing to learn and to be there for you when you need to talk or to just spend some time together. The most powerful support can be found in other former members of groups have had very similar experiences to your own and are going through the recovery process as well. It is so good to be around people who really get it!

Patience

Yes, I know it is hard to be patient with yourself in the recovery process. Remember, we had a lot of practice living on the edge and being expected to produce results yesterday. A residual effect of living that way is to expect recovery yesterday and to be very impatient with ourselves. Also, remember when you were in the group, the leaders or the ideology could never be wrong if something was wrong, guess who it was! So, we tend to say whats wrong with me in the recovery process. Guess what. There is nothing wrong with you. Recovery takes time. It takes education. It takes support. And it takes giving yourself a break.

Edited to add:
A comment reminded me that I didn't fully finish this post.

While I have no problem calling Kimmer and Singing Ass "Cult Leaders" (even if the latter is just a wannabe) I do not want to attach the label cult to the former Kimkins members.

While many Kimkins members that leave go through stages of feelings that are similar to people that are leaving a cult, Kimkins did not encompass the member's entire life in the same way as a religious cult so the "recovery" process should be easier.

I also forgot to include links to where to find support and to meet up with other people that have left or been banned from Kimkins:

• Low Carb Friends has an active thread with people trying to shut Kimkins.con down. Kimkins discussions are detained to this one thread. Many ex-kimkinites find it a useful place to vent anger while others see it as Kimkins bashing. Then you might want to find one of the many diet support groups on LCF instead.

• Active Low Carber Forum has many diet support groups.

• Jimmy Moore's forum is a meeting place for many ex-kimkinites but the Kimkins Diet is strongly discouraged.

• Amy Eating Low is also a forum where many ex-kimkinites hang out, including Amy herself.

• Big Huge Minds is a brand new, very friendly forum.

Infamous Diet

in·fa·mous
– adjective
1. having an extremely bad reputation
2. deserving of or causing an evil reputation; shamefully malign; detestable

Kimkins certainly qualifies as an "Infamous Diet". Read what Consumer Affairs has to say about it:
Kimkins Diet Rolls On Despite Founder's Excess Poundage

The article by Consumer Affairs is a result of the complaints submitted by the Ducks as part of the "Take Down Kimkins Contest" on Kimkinsscam.

What is interesting with the Consumer Affair's article is that it is written by someone, David Wood, that had no previous knowledge of the diet. David was given a free pass to kimkins.com and commented:

"Our time on the Kimkins website showed that many people didn't care that many if not most of the claims were bogus. It was a cult atmosphere, with people attacking anyone that dared speak against Heidi and her diet. And although the membership fee is supposed to pay for a lifetime membership, we spoke with numerous people who had been banned from the site.

We also saw the consequences of a classic starvation diet. Women who had quickly lost the weight started eating again, and then returned to the Kimkins site for encouragement to lose the weight again."

Apparently, the new sockpuppets Heidi created on Kimkins just before David's arrival did not fool him one bit, just as the "cleaned up" version of kimkins.com still doesn't make the diet any better.

Reinforcing the Cult

Kimkins is often compared to a cult, as the community within the pay site ($79.95 membership) has a lot of similarities to a cult. See for yourself:
Kimkins Cult Mentality
Kimkins Cult Mentality Revisited
Kimkins - A Cult

How can we recognize a cult?

A fair use of the cult label for a questionable organization would require the presence of most of the items on the following checklist.

Does the group:

• engage in deceptive recruitment practices?
• tend to target vulnerable individuals?
• offer unconditional affirmation and support initially, but soon make its continuance contingent on obedience?
• have a closed social system that makes a special effort to isolate acolytes from family, friends, etc.?
• use constant bombardment with pro-group and pro-leader messages and exclusion of other messages?
• have a rigid, authoritarian hierarchy?
• have a leader and ruling clique that are perceived to possess infallible insight, supernatural powers, etc.?
• have an eclectic, often muddled and internally contradictory, set of teachings - usually a magic-laden philosophy that claims to have infallible answers to those “big ticket” questions of existence?
• have a strict behavior code that governs all aspects of how one should think, feel, and act?
• instill fear of outsiders (the “bunker mentality”)? Does the group try to convince members they are powerless to act without the group’s support and that the world “out there” is uncaring and hostile?
  

A post yesterday by the Kimkins poster girl Singing Lass reinforces the image of a cult. The post was made in response to emails that concerned people had sent to a Kimkins dieter with a heart condition.

"I am so proud of you---you are such a beautiful and strong person, and are inspiring so many people because of it. I know right now is a difficult time to step outside the 'safety walls" of the inner site and proclaim yourself with the plan, and it just reflects all the more on your courage and spirit---and the desire to help others who feel hopeless or overwhelmed with their need for weight loss by sharing your personal story and journey.

As for the "others". What they do is the complete opposite---playground bully tactics of harassment and threats. It is obsessive and juvenile, and perhaps they should look to their own selves and lives for things to "fix" before trying to condem and force themselves and their opinions on others. We are adults, we should have the right to make our own choices, especially in regard to OUR own bodies ... they have no right to tell others what to do. Some of them lost weight on this plan, then after the fact joined the hate party, many never did the diet at all ..... and many more are stuck with weight issues, unable to stick to diets of their own, or reporting having gone to surgical means and having resulting infections and problems ..... while here you are, beautiful, losing, getting on your feet with your heart health etc ... You have every right to hold your head up and be proud for who you are and what you have accomplished.

I had my share of the bully tactics and harassment. I guess, I realized to give in, to step down like they wanted me to .... would have been condoning their tactics and would have made them the"winners". People who harass, threaten, say mean things/ make fun of people should not be given any satisfaction or justifcation for the tactics they employ. I think the real test is being strong, sticking to what you feel is right for you and what makes you feel good, and not letting obsessed people change that, or take it away from you. The real people who care about you are here ... the ones that have be-friended you without any motives, who show genuine concern and caring .... not people who pile up on you all of a sudden with threats etc ...

My advice still is the same regarding blocking their emails, just turn them off. Do not respond to them-----do not feed the animals. I know its a bit like a bad tv show that you hate, but cant bring yourself to change the channel just to see how much worse they will take it. It is all hot air, spite, jealousy etc ... though. You cannot reason with them. The only response I would even suggest giving any of them is an email saying you do not wish to have any interaction/communication from them, and any further attempts on their part will be reported to the police for harassment. Guess what.. .. it is very much against the law for them to continue to do so. When you cut off the fuel, ignore them .. .they get bored waving their fingers at a wall, do not get any satisfaction, and get a knot in their holy crusader underwear and move on .... unfortunately looking for new targets and meat to sink teeth into. but still.. .... the best way to fight it is to ignore, stick to guns, not let them make choices for you, and thusly it results in not allowing them to win or feel like they have any power over you.

You know, these same people who do this ..... I wonder how they would react if they were to get a report from school, or the parents of other kids telling them that their children are harassing other kids, making threats, bullying, emailing etc ... It is total school ground tactics that are typically discouraged and even punished when discovered in children. yet here they are. Great examples. I hope they feel proud of themselves."

Meet the Cult Leaders: The Kimmer, Singing Lass and sockpuppet Gary:


Emphasis mine, typos Singing Lass'.

Laxatives for Weight Loss

It's a MYTH. Since most of the calories eaten are absorbed by the small intestine right after eating, the method of using laxatives for weight loss is actually ineffective. Many laxatives act by irritating the lining of the intestines or by directly stimulating nerves. Continual over stimulation of the intestines form laxative abuse can eventually cause the bowels to become non-responsive.

Long term laxative use can damage the colon. Because of the damage that laxatives can cause, ever increasing dosages of laxatives may be needed in order to achieve the desired effect. Where one laxative dose produced results, now two, then three doses a day or more, are required. At this point, the habit has become fixed. The individual is unable to move their bowel without the use of a laxative or other bowel interventions.

So why do people use laxatives for weight loss? In the words of a girl recovering from an eating disorder:

Well, because laxatives cause a body to lose WATER WEIGHT and thus, when first used, appear to assist in weight loss. However, it is NOT REAL WEIGHT that is being lost. Every calorie consumed is still digested by the body, you simply lose more water than usual because the laxatives induce soft stool by adding water to the stool. That's the "secret" that has KILLED a number of people. Stupid water weight that you will GAIN right back as soon as you re-hydrate yourself (by drinking no calorie water). It's a LIE that laxatives cause any real weight loss. Ask a doctor if you don't believe me. In addition to this outrageous lie, laxatives are PHYSICALLY ADDICTING. That means, if you use them your body will start to depend on them in order to have a normal bowel movement. Your colon muscles will get lazy and you'll have to take laxatives just to be normal and the number of actual laxatives needed will increase as well. This cycle is VICIOUS and can absolutely RUIN your life without any "benefit" of weight loss that is lasting or real, and, in fact, there is a risk of weight GAIN.

There are numerous reports from Kimkins how laxatives are being pushed by Kimmer. Why is she doing this? Is it to boost the spirit of the dieter due to the immediate, imaginary weight loss that results? Or is she just plain evil?


Kimmer has a long history of recommending laxative abuse. A few examples from the "Ask Kimmer" thread on LCF:

"Reminder to everybody as to whether epsom salts or other laxative is necessary? We want to keep things moooooving, so to speak."

---

"I think fiber slows down weight loss initially because it's bulking in the colon, absorbing water and "slowing things down" when new food is eaten. Think of the commercials for drain cleaners.

You're still losing, it's just takes awhile for everything to "work through" and this can be a hard thing for someone checking the scale. Suddenly there will be a "whoosh" and it's just everything catching up, so to speak.

Traditional advice is that laxatives are not for daily use because the digestive system will depend on them, but I've read new info (don't have a source) which says that's old science. The opinion was that it was more important to keep waste moving. We're talking the stated dose, not mass quantities or laxative abuse."

---

"You might consider MoM, epsom salt or other laxative either full strength 2-3 times a week or a reduced amount daily. Are you diabetic? "

---

"Keep in mind that meat, chicken & fish have zero fiber so there's nothing to "push them through".

Have you considered taking a mild laxative each night you're doing "protein only"? Or, hate to even suggest it, make up a batch of the horrible Epsom salt solution and take a couple tablespoons each night?

How much have you been losing each day before? You're still losing that right now. When things "move", you'll have a whoosh that will bring you up to date."

---

Question: I've had to use a laxative three times in the past two weeks, which I've never had to do before. When I bought them I was thinking it would be a one time deal, get things moving, and all would be well. Not so, I guess. I've heard mention of epsom salt tonics. Are they less harsh than a laxative? How often are people taking the epsom salt? Do you take it nightly? Or as needed? Is either the epsom salt or the laxatives used on a regular basis harmful? Also, I've stayed the same weight for a three days now. Can I assume that is due to the backup? Fun stuff

Kimmer: My guess would be, 'yes', to the back up.

Low carb is also low fiber so we have the option of taking extra fiber (sugar free Citrucel or Benefiber) with plenty of fluids or an "active" laxative like Ex-lax, epsom salts or something similar. They work in different ways, some bulking, some water attracting and others.

I'm cheap so I would use the epsom salts. Make a batch according to the directions on the box and keep it in the fridge. It tastes horrible so use Crystal Light or diet soda instead of water when you mix.

Personally, I'd drink 4 oz every night, but check on the timing according to how your body reacts. The point is to keep waste moving, as unpleasant as it is to think about."

---

And when someone questions her advice: I don't want to be negative, but I've seen a lot of dancers get dependent on laxatives, and have problems as they get older. An MRI will show how the colon is stained and damaged by many over the counter products used long term. Not the healthiest choice.Psyllium fiber needs lots of water to work right but has no dependence issues. $3.99 pound at Trader Joes. Slightly more expensive under brand names.By perscription only is the very best choice for those with coverage. Enulose is a non digestible agent that draws water into the colon, completely unabsorbed by the body, doesn't cause any dependency issues, extensively used in pediatric and adult medicine with reams of data supporting it's safety. Very $$$ RX for those without coverage though.

Senna is in the group of stimulants which the body eventually developes an attenuation to.
Not saying they won't work, just not the optimal choice for long term use.

Kimmer: Very good point about laxative abuse. We aren't interested in going there, but we are interested in maximum speedy weight loss.

I think laxatives used per instructions are safe and far better than constipation where the body reabsorbs some of the toxins and waste that are accumulated.

Do you think the staining of the colon is from the laxatives themselves or compaction of the fecal matter or bouts of poor eating and then relying on laxatives to maintain weight?"

---

As always with Kimkins, it's weight loss at any cost. It's just not obvious what the cost is at the time. Kimkins Survivors has many examples what the cost was for unsuspecting Kimkins dieters.

That laxatives are not even useful for weight loss is apparently of no importance to Kimmer. Anything to make the scale go down, if only temporarily.

If you are abusing laxatives, this thread has good information. Probiotics may help to restore the intestinal microflora balance.

Diet Founder

Does it matter if a founder of a Diet is following his/her own program, and has been successful on the diet?

For the current Kimkins followers, it doesn't seem so.

Unlike founders of popular diet programs such as Atkins, the South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, this particular diet "guru" has failed at her own program and has not lost weight. Even the ridiculous Magic Chicken Diet was founded by someone that, by all accounts, did lose weight, even if she didn't do it in a healthy manner.

At the height of the Kimkins "craze" last summer a PI took the below picture of Kimmer. Why would anyone take diet advice from this woman? Does she look like she knows what she is talking about? Does she look like she ever lost weight and managed to maintain her weight loss for some time? Does her image represent the results from the Kimkins diet?

Remember that Kimmer promoted this diet for 8 (eight) years, without being successful on it. Why does she still believe in this diet? She never could follow it. She never lost weight on it, except a few pounds that were quickly regained. Has not her results (or rather lack of results) proved to her that the diet does not work and is not sustainable long term?



After Kimmer was forced to stop using fake pictures, of herself and other "success stories", she resorted to Plan B: Elicit sympathy from other dieters that well know how easy it is to fall off the wagon and "regain" weight. Now the message changed from "do what I say to accomplish what I did" to "do what I say and we'll lose weight together". It's just that Kimmer doesn't seem to be losing weight, unless you believe her doctored pictures. So is the message really "do as I say because I say so"? Why would you?

And what is the purpose of the latest addition to the Kimmer pictures? Even if it is her, why is it relevant that she at one time, 35 years ago, was not obese? What does that have to do with the Kimkins diet? Will you pay me $79.95 if I put up a picture of myself as a teen?