The Kimkins Disaster :

The Kimkins phenomenon has resided primarily within the confines of low-carb communities, but is starting to make its way into more mainstream media. It is a bizarre story of the quick rise and the tremendous fall from grace of an underground diet “guru”. Here’s the story;

Going under the moniker of Kimmer, Heidi Kimberley Diaz (apparently her real name) began a website about a year-and-a-half ago claiming to have lost almost 200 pounds in 11 months.

Her plan: A customized ultra low fat/carb/calorie diet. Presumably, she had strung along many a follower who had aspirations of losing unwanted weight quickly.

Heidi’s world has since come crashing down on. In the past several weeks alone, there has been a coup of sorts, amidst accusations of her diet making people sick. (A former member of the Kimkins team who was featured in Woman’s World magazine tells of her experience ).

That’s just the beginning. As the story begins to unravel, sources have also determined that “Kimmer” had lied about losing the extraordinary amount of weight (see recent photo here ), had taken up a collection for foster children she did not have and posted phony success stories (in addition to her own).

Anti-kimmer websites are now scattered all over cyberspace – exposing the disgraced woman. She now faces a pending class-action lawsuit for her misdeeds.

As this saga continues to unfold, I feel a visceral anger but also a tinge of sadness. I can only hope that this story acts as a warning to people of the dangers involved with extreme dieting.

Sources:
http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/populardietplans/a/kimkinsdiet_2.htm
KTLA Evening News . Also video .

Editor's Note: Despite receiving a number of emails (many months ago) asking about Kimkins - I declined to give the "diet" any publicity whatsoever. There were simply too many things that didn't add up. Now that the dust is beginning to clear - we can all learn some lessons.

The best testimony of any diet will always be long-term success and health improvement. - Jim

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