Snake Oil for Weight Loss

Dr. David Katz, the doctor in the piece about Kimkins on Good Morning America, doesn't mince any words when he refers to the Kimkins diet! Check out his post here:

Snake Oil for Weight Loss

He said:

Until Good Morning America asked me to 'weigh in' on the Kimkins weight loss plan (click here for this morning's video), I had never heard of it. But apparently, an awful lot of people had, and many of them plunked down their cash.

Legal action will likely eliminate the hazard of this particular load of dietary nonsense. But as long as there is a fortune to be made preying on the gullibilities of a population desperate for rapid, easy weight loss, you can be sure another load will take its place.

You can help prevent that. Pass every promise through the filter of your common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, step away from your credit card, and nobody will get hurt. Don't go in for losing weight as fast as possible- cholera works beautifully, but that scarcely makes it a good choice. Much the same is true of extreme, unsustainable diets.

The tried and true here folks- the horror!- is the same as it ever was: eating well, being active. The rest is new-age cyber-space snake oil. Pass it on, and let's put all the charlatans out of business.

His view of Kimkins is right on! However, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up with the implication that victims didn't use their common sense. The Kimkins victims aren't to blame, Heidi Diaz is. Heidi Diaz intentionally made herself out to be an authority. Who could argue with Kimkins success? She tightly wound facts with disordered logic, and was very believable to many people. That doesn't mean they are gullible. They chose based on the information they had at the time. Let's keep the blame where it belongs! I still appreciate Dr. Katz helping to spread the word about Kimkins, and I hope that he participates in getting this fraud stopped!