Kimkins Controversy - Kimkins Scam

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.

The Diet Of Humankind

In the Wikipedia entry for Dieting there is a banner that says the following:

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.

That statement made me start thinking. I actually wrote a rambling sanctimonious post and then self edited it down to nothing. I decided that it was better to just put it out there and let everyone think for themselves. I was just looking at the Wikipedia entry for “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” It’s hard to believe that it was well over 20 years ago. I think it is interesting that Bono is the only participant that is even remotely relevant today and he is also a man who is still working hard on behalf of the hungry people in the World.

Fox Television’s Editing of the Kimkins Story

I was reviewing the voiceover for the Kimkins Expose produced by FOX and I noticed some subtle ways in which factual inaccuracies were made for the sake of the narrative. They were inconsequential and easy to miss for anyone not intimately acquainted with the facts. Basically some assumptions were made when the writers were ‘livening up’ the story. They involve the chronology and some cause and effect statements about small details of the story.

They did a reasonably good job of condensing the saga for the Morning TV audience.

Kimkins Scam Exposed on National Television

Fox’s national morning show, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, profiled Kimkins as part of their diet scam expose series yesterday.  The Morning Show brought a doctor and nutritionist on for their opinions.  Former administrators Christin and Deni told their stories about the fraud and their issues with the diet.  Jeannie Baitinger (TippyToes) and Delaney (Singinglass at Kimkins, an admin who has done most of the banning when people have asked questions about Kimmer) also appeared.  The biggest bombshell is that Jeannie announced that Heidi is, indeed, Kimmer.  After hearing the thinly-veiled disgust in Tippy’s voice when viewing the Heidi Diaz surveillance tape (”look at the woman”) don’t you wonder how long Tippy will be employed by Heidi?

Jimmy Moore recorded the segment and uploaded it to YouTube.  Watch it now:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Kimkins Affiliate Spotlight: TheSkinnyWebsite.com

Okay everyone, it’s time to start putting pressure on the Kimkins affiliates to stop marketing this fraudulent product to their audience. Direct action helped put a stop to Jimmy Moore’s promotion of Kimkins and it will help stop the rest of the affiliates too.

The first affiliate we are going to spotlight is a celebrity weight loss gossip blog called TheSkinnyWebsite. This site is read by thousands of women and it has actively fed the false “Jessica Alba does Kimkins” rumor mill. Just yesterday it linked Kimkins with Angelina Jolie’s name. Heidi Diaz has admitted that she uses these false celebrity rumors to market Kimkins to young girls.

Take a moment to go to TheSkinnyWebsite.com and tell them to stop participating in Heidi’s scam.

Make sure to tell them:

• Kimkins marketing is fraudulent. Kimmer (Heidi Diaz) is morbidly obese. She is not the lady in the red dress and there is no reason to believe that she ever lost 198 pounds.
• Kimkins and Heidi Diaz are facing a class action lawsuit and Heidi Diaz is being investigated for fraud.
• The diet is dangerous and people are getting sick.
• When the Kimkins assets are frozen, affiliates will not be paid their commissions.
• Affiliates who knowingly participate in this fraudulent marketing may also be liable for damages.

UPDATE:  THESKINNYWEBSITE.COM HAS SEVERED ITS AFFILIATE RELATIONSHIP WITH KIMKINS.COM AND REMOVED ITS LINKS.

Jimmy Moore’s Official Statement on the Kimmer (Heidi Diaz) Surveillance Photos

Jimmy says:

I am fully aware of the pictures that have surfaced about the founder of the Kimkins diet this week and frankly I am not surprised by what has been revealed. It absolutely confirms many of the exact reasons why I decided to apologize and completely sever ties with Kimkins six weeks ago and I expect even more investigations into the business practices and ethics of Kimkins and those behind it will continue.

That’s why those of us who support a much more sound low-carb nutritional approach with proper caloric and fat intake for the sake of a permanent and healthy lifestyle change should follow the lead of myself as well as former Kimkins leaders Becky, Christin, and Deni in completely renouncing Kimmer and the low-carb imposter diet she created and made millions of dollars off of known as Kimkins.

Jimmy Moore Reports on Kimkins Staff/Admin Exodus

Jimmy reports:

Becky was always providing thorough and direct posts on the Kimkins forums to questions posted by members. Christin was the cover girl in Woman’s World magazine in May and a big cheerleader on behalf of the Kimkins diet after losing over 100 pounds. Finally, Deni was also in the Woman’s World article for her weight loss and was a Spirit-filled spiritual leader for so many going through this journey.

But you’ll notice I said “was.” As of Monday, all three have left Kimkins.

Kimkins Diet Review: Silent No More

Stephanie at Living Low Carb & Lovin’ It! discusses her experience with the Kimkins diet:

At week 3*, my weight loss stopped. I began questioning Kimmer and the admins on the forum. Their advice was “drop your carbs, drop your fats…”that food” isn’t allowed on Kimkins etc.”

This meant, in a practical sense, drop your calories. So I did. For a little while I dropped my daily caloric intake to approximately 600-800 per day.

How did I feel?

Ravenously hungry. My stomach growled almost constantly. Deciding it was time to kick up my exercise routine a notch, I tried to work out one day on the elliptical machine at the Y (I’d been walking at least a mile a day or every other day at that time in my hilly neighborhood). After about 6-7 minutes I was getting woozy, my knees felt like jello, and I couldn’t see straight. I decided to finish my workout on a treadmill. I took it easy, but only could finish another 4 minutes before the dizziness and weakness in my legs made me a little scared and I stopped.

Kimmer Encourages Child to Continue On!

Kimkins Exposed follows up on the story of the 14-year-old girl doing the dangerous Kimkins very low calorie diet:

Kimmer Encourages Child to Continue On!

Child Still Cheered Along on Kimkins!

Just a few weeks ago, Kimmer told Jimmy Moore that Kimkins does not permit teen members. In her advice to this child she said:

I agree with all the replies above, except about needing more calories simply because of your age. A calorie is a unit of energy, that’s all. If we eat too much energy, it’s stored as fat — whether you’re 14 or 84. If you have excess body fat, you have CALORIES hanging there, again whether you’re 14 or 84.

However, if you want to up your calories, simply add more food. You’re a teenager, so a couple servings of dairy are important (or use supplements with your doctor’s advice). String cheese, Dannon low carb yogurt, broccoli, kale, cottage cheese are good sources of calcium and will give you extra calories.

So Kimmer acknowledges that this member is a young teen, and tells her that she does not need to eat adequate calories even though she is a teen. Why hasn’t Kimmer refunded this teen girl’s membership and advised her to seek her parents’ help?

Kimkins.com Tries to Silence About.com’s Kimkins Diet Review

A few days ago, Laura Dolson, the About.com Guide to Low Carb Diets, wrote a review of the Kimkins diet.   She drew most of her information from Kimmer/Heidi Diaz’s own telephone interview with low carb blogger Jimmy Moore (Jimmy has since dropped his support of Kimkins as a result of this interview).  Unsurprisingly, Dolson’s level and fair survey of the facts surrounding Kimkins resulted in a negative review.  It seems like the only people who write positive Kimkins reviews are the Kimkins affiliates who rake in commissions from their raves.

Dolson heard from Kimkins.com PR staff asking her to take down the negative review of Kimkins. Laura says:

Predictably, I’ve heard from the Kimkins company PR person, asking me to take the article down because it is inaccurate and “based on hearsay”. I’m not going to do that, but if there is anything that is inaccurate, I would want to revise it. I foresee a long back-and-forth in email with the company, but since I admittedly haven’t been on the site myself, I’d love it if anyone here would be willing to correct me, either by posting to this thread or writing to me at lowcarbdiets.guide~about.com.