Kimkins Controversy - Kimkins Scam

Alcohol

There is anecdotal evidence and some hearsay that Heidi Diaz struggles with alcoholism. Her recent blog post about alcohol speaks volumes by saying almost nothing at all. There are carbs in alcoholic drinks. That is true, but there is also alcohol. Alcohol is a mind altering and addictive substance. If there is one aspect of this woman that gets my unadulterated sympathy it is the drinking.

For people without issues related to alcohol (extending to family members as well), consider drinking 1 glass of red wine several days per week. It has been shown to benefit blood cholesterol ratios.

Anti-Kimkins Blogs of Note: Jimmy

I’m guessing that about 0.2% of the people that end up reading my title will react by thinking to themselves Jimmy who?

Jimmy is a low carb weight loss success story who went on to become a pro blogger and the host of a vibrant free low carb community. He has a lot of personality.

Jimmy spent months as a Kimkins affiliate and drew harsh criticism for a part of that time. His audio interview with Kimmer (who at that time was not admitting to her identity as Heidi Diaz) was a defining moment of this saga. I think you can pinpoint the moment when he stopped giving Kimmer the benefit of the doubt. He asked her if the picture of the woman in the red dress was, in fact, her. She said it was, in a tone of voice very much like the one that Heidi Diaz would later use to say No Comment to Chip Yost. The popularity of the audio interview with Jimmy Moore meant that thousands of people had absolutely no doubt that Heidi Diaz was Kimmer as soon as she spoke on camera. Surprisingly, Kimmer continued to deny being Heidi Diaz for some time after that.

My Hindsight Fashion Sense

Doubts.

Many people who looked at the success stories last year on Kimkins.com had doubts. Some people who were in contact with Heidi were treated to the kind of back stories that um, are generally considered unmakeuppable. When I look at all those Russian Bride pictures now, I find it hard to believe that anyone could have swallowed the whole farce. The majority of them are wearing clothing and makeup that, while not bizarre by any means, are not typical of Americans in the 21st century. I guess the craftiness of the fraud involved placement and cropping. This reminds me of the Jessica Seinfeld book about getting your kids to eat their vegetable through clandestine methods.

The lady in the red dress that was supposed to be Kimmer would be comparible to Jessica Seinfeld putting a cherry TOMATO on top of a sundae and serving it to her kid.

Anti-Kimkins Blogs of Note: Kimkins Scam

The blogger over at Kimkins Scam is quite a task master. Heidi Diaz and various affiliates have promoted the Kimkins website in a lot of different corners of the internet. Much of this effort can be swept away with a few well written complaints. There are various links and instructions related to this effort on Kimkins Scam. It is part of a broader effort to have the Kimkins site cease to exist.

The blog also has most of the Russian Bride Pics in one convenient location.

Is Kimkins a Cult?

We generally associate the word cult with religion, but the definition is actually broader than that. Wikipedia describes a cult as a cohesive social group devoted to beliefs or practices that the surrounding culture considers outside the mainstream. So, yeah, I think you could argue that Kimkins is a cult.

I think the one saving grace with Kimkins is that its devotees are not in the physical care and control of their leader. I recently read some anecdotal information from an anti-kimkins blogger who knows some people who are still following Kimkins. The impression I got was the some Kimkins defenders who argue that it is a safe and viable diet actually cheat regularly on their diet.

Heidi is Blogging up a Storm

The Blogspot blog authored by ‘Kimmer’ is probably the most active and relevant ‘affiliate’ blog left. There is a lot of well constructed new content there. I am not being sarcastic, I really think it is a well designed and well written blog. There is even a comment or two on the blog. They are both from people who mysteriously address their comment to somebody other than Kimmer, as if they mistakenly think it was posted by someone else. Both commentators also created a Blogger account near the time that they made their comment on Heidi’s Blog. Not surprisingly, they are both very positive comments.

There is no way know if Heidi wrote the comments herself, but it seems plausible.

Is Kimkins Unstoppable?

I can’t help but grumble over the fact that all of this could have been stopped over a year ago when myself and others tried to discuss Kimkins’ fake Success Stories photos

This quote from Anti-Kimkins dates from early October of 2007. The author’s complaint is related to deletion of posts on LCF that criticized Kimmer and her business practices long before a concerted effort resulted in exposing the fraud. The fact is that Heidi Diaz was and is a relentless and innovative manipulator of people and she could easily use her skills and the forum rules to full advantage. One can assume that she actively portrayed criticism and doubt as ad hominem attacks. I don’t disagree with the quote, but nobody KNEW until the PI pictures were taken.

I was going to wait until October of 2008 to make a post about this quote, but I actually do think that Kimkins will be gone by then.

Does Media Coverage Hurt Kimkins Sales?

The adage that there is no such thing as bad press, has got to be one of the most enduring ‘not quite true’ adages ever. In the moment, the Woman’s World coverage was tremendously beneficial to Heidi Diaz, but it probably hastened the exposure of the fraud. In contrast, the eventual coverage of the fraud by mainstream media might have inadvertently caused a small up tick in sales.

Now that ABC News is working on a story about the Kimkins diet scam, the website will get a big spike in traffic. I sounds crazy to say that this will increase sales when it is a story about a fraud and about a diet that some doctors and dietitians have advised against trying. This reminds me, has anyone ever published an analogy between post exposure Kimkins membership and those women who mail proposals to men on death row?

Inventive Stumble Tagging

I recently installed Stumble on my PC. I didn’t know that Stumble would add elements to my Google searches. I have been Googling Kimkins regularly for the past few days and the tag that I underlined in green on this screencap struck me as kinda weird.

I don’t know if an anti-kimkins person added this tag in an effort to be subversive, or if a pro-kimkins person (there are still a handful of these) did it to generate traffic for Heidi’s blogspot blog. Kimkinsdiet.blogspot.com would actually get lots of traffic if it allowed unmoderated comments the way some anti-kimkins blogs do.

Anti-Kimkins Blogs of Note: Kimkins Exposed

If you discovered the Kimkins controversy recently and you are trying desperately to get your head around the whole thing, Kimkins Exposed should be one of your first stops. One of the most interesting twists in the Kimkins fraud was Heidi’s use of photographs from Russian Bride sites for her success story recreations. The author of Kimkins Exposed has a good compilation of the Russian Brides that have been discovered by many weary eyes.

This particular blog hasn’t been updated since last October. The point of many of the anti-kimkins blogs was to create engaging content that would stay on the front page of search queries for Kimkins. The author accomplished that mission. The nuts and bolts of information gathering related to Kimkins has taken place to a large extent on forums. The author of Kimkins Exposed is legendary in the realm of low carb forums.