Wow - 2009!

Happy New Year, all yall!

The Kimkins Accolades Keep On Coming!

The Kimkins diet is rated the #3 worst diet of 2008! I'd argue it should be at least tied with #2, the ultra low calorie Original Hollywood Celebrity Diet. I thought it was interesting that most of the diets in the list are diet supplements and not actual diets. Looking at diet alone, Kimkins would be even close to the top.

I wonder what you can eat on the Mariah Carey Purple Food diet? Cabbage? Grape juice? Does eggplant count? :shiver: I'm guessing there's not much food to choose from. Have you ever seen purple protein?

Be careful when you choose your weight loss approach, people. Resolve not to get scammed this year!

Check out Cleo's 2008 Kimkins in Review

Great summary, Cleochatra!

Sometimes it feels like ages with no action in this Kimkins Class Action lawsuit, but sure enough it's moving forward.

What did the attorney say to his client the scammer?

You're FIRED!

That's right - according to court documents, Heidi Diaz attorney (Cottle) has bailed on his client. Maybe he doesn't want to share in the Kimkins Slim Chance Award?

Congratulations Kevin Trudeau! And Kimkins!

You've won the SLIM CHANCE AWARDS!

To call 2008 a typical year in the weight loss field would be too easy. This year’s awards go to an infamous huckster of diet infomercials, known for his outrageous disregard of injunctions against him; $139 body-shaping jeans impregnated with substances that supposedly reduce cellulite; a pill that’s “proven” to make your belly fat vanish; and a dangerous starvation diet launched recklessly on the Internet with false promises of safe, fast and permanent weight loss.

Quackery & Fraud

Here's my very favoritest part:

WORST PRODUCT: Kimkins diet. It must have seemed an easy way to get rich quick. Founder Heidi "Kimmer" Diaz set up a website and charged members a fee to access the Kimkins diet, boasting they could lose up to 5 percent of their body weight in 10 days. "Better than gastric bypass," there was "no faster diet" and in fact she herself had lost 198# in 11 months. Stunning "after" photos were displayed. In June 2007 Women's World ran it as a cover story, and that month alone PayPal records show the Kimkins site took in over $1.2 million. Then users began complaining of chest pains, hair loss, heart palpitations, irritability and menstrual irregularities. This was not surprising since Kimkins is essentially a starvation diet, down to 500 calories per day and deficient in many nutrients (shockingly, laxatives are advised to replace the missing fiber). In a lawsuit, 11 former members are uncovering a vast record of Diez’s alleged fraud. They found that the stunning “after” photos, including one of Kimmer herself, had been lifted from a Russian mail order bride site. According to a deposition reported by Los Angeles TV station KTLA, Diaz admitted using fake pictures, fake stories and fake IDs, and a judge has allowed the litigants to freeze some of her assets.

The Benefits of Cigarette Smoking

I did a little study. I went to a smoky bar. It was rough, but in the name of science I tipped a couple rum & Diet Cokes. I rounded up a room full of smokers. I asked half of them to give up smoking for a week. I'd offered to cook up a mountain of chicken wings for their next kegger, so they said what the heck?

They quit cold turkey and they felt like crap all week. It made them stupider! They were cranky and forgetful. Their cravings were insane. They couldn't seem to get anything done! After a week, I told them they could start smoking again and you know what? After the first cigarette they felt better! Immediately! Clearly the smoking was doing something good for them. We went back out to the bar to celebrate. I discovered that the more beers they drank the prettier I got! That will have to be a study for another day.

Anyway, back to my hypothesis. I guess I was right. Cigarettes are healthy. I think I'll repeat the study with a group of Diet Coke drinkers! Who knew it was so easy to be a sci-un-tist! I wonder if I can get paid to do it?

In equally impressive health news, here's a study that's just as good as mine:
Low-carb diets can affect dieters' cognition skills

Here is more commentary on this "study":
Michael R. Eades, M.D.: Making Worthless Data Confess
Dana Capender: Another Un-Compelling Study
Laura Dolson: Low-Carb Diets Bad for the Brain? (Don't Worry!)
Mariasol: Low-carb diets can affect dieters’ cognition skills

Class Certification Filed for Kimkins Lawsuit

The motion for Class Certification for the Kimkins lawsuit was filed last week. Mariasol has a great summary of the massive document here. Good job, Mariasol - and thank you!

Is it too late to take that back?

I hope Rod Blagojevich ROTS IN JAIL.

Sorry for the OT... carry on...

Oprah, Oprah, Oprah!

Oprah has regained 40 pounds. This is news. After all, it's a given that a woman's worth is determined by her waistline.

She feels bad and embarrassed. She fell off the wagon and let it run over her.

Oprah lost 67 pounds on a liquid protein diet. You know... a diet where your calories are suppressed and you drink liquid protein drinks and the weight falls off and you get into skinny jeans and feel awesome. Then you start to eat real food again and BAM! The pounds, guilt, shame & pain come back. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. She now has a thyroid problem - I wonder how that happened?

Oprah, it's not YOU, it's the #$(&*@#&##@ DIEt!!!! Please dust yourself off and adjust your perspective. Use your position as one of the most influential women EVER! Send the message that starving yourself into size 10 CK jeans isn't a solution to being a healthy weight.

And for crying out loud, do not say "I felt like a fat cow. I wanted to disappear." You shouldn't talk to yourself that way, and you shouldn't model that talk for others. Don't be part of the problem, Oprah! Be part of the solution! Give that gift to women and young girls around the globe. You can and you should!

Remember when Heidi Diaz implied that Jessica Alba was on Kimkins?

She may be one of the most beautiful women in the world... but that doesn't stop Jessica Alba from getting airbrushed...

Airbrushed photos does sound like Kimkins, but of course we all know that Alba wasn't on Kimkins and that it was a lie to lure young women to the site. (I don't have to say allegedly - Heidi Diaz confessed to it in her deposition.) But I digress... this post isn't about Kimkins, though it's about one of the main reasons women get desperate enough to do Kimkins!

Just look at what they've done to Jessica Alba because apparently she's just not skinny enough for print:

See how they made her collarbones look like a person on a concentration camp diet? How they trimmed her waist, hips and legs? Trimmed her crotch? Chiseled her chin? Plumped up her boobs? Gave her that 'healthy' tan? Why? Because that body on the left, owned by the mother of a 5-month-old, just isn't perfect enough.

I think she looks better in the before shot, though I'd still like to hand her a sandwich.

The fact that this stuff is done routinely makes me sick. Even the untouched photos set a standard unattainable by the masses. Why then is it necessary to retouch the photo to add that "glamorous anorexic look'? This disgusting exploitation of models sets a standard that is sickening or killing young women every day! It's unconscionable that this is accepted - even expected - practice!

"Vegas, baby!" Seriously???

Swallow your coffee first, then go read Mayberryfan's blog post. Here's a spoiler:

Heidi Diaz is planning...

Wait for it...

Wait for it...

yet another Kimkins Vegas get-together!

I told you to swallow your coffee!

She planned one once and cancelled at the last minute for an emergency.

Then she planned another one and cancelled at the last minute for an emergency.

Now she's planning another one... can anyone predict what'll happen?

Say, since we're talking about Vegas, shall we start some serious wagers?

The most interesting part for me was Mayberryfan's observation on Heidi's new signature line, borrowed from a minister:

"Don't talk about the way you are, talk about the way you want to be."... Pastor Joel Osteen

Poetic, don't you think? Or is it that other p-word that ends in 'etic'?

I'd like to start a prayer chain for AmyB

AmyB is having significant health issues, at the same time her son is. Please, on your own blog, here, or in your own hearts, join me to lift her up and wrap her in prayers and positive thoughts.

Who's got my hand?

Yipes!

The US has lost 1.9 million jobs so far this year. Half a million in November alone and expected to get much worse.

What a depressing day. SAD is kicking my butt. Does anyone have any GOOD news to share? I'm begging here!

What century is this?!?

How did I not know that piracy was still rampant in this day and age? Until the past couple months news stories about it, I had no clue!

This morning I was listening to a story on NPR about the huge problem of trafficking of Russian women. I had some sense of this, after poring over Russian bride websites for weeks in search of the phony Kimkins success photos. But wow... the real problem isn't as tidy as women looking for husbands in other countries as a ticket for happiness. Many of the women are coerced into it, while others are just desperate for a better life. At first thought, it makes me so very glad I live in the US, but women are exploited everywhere including here. It's so pervasive that we often are immune to it. Entire industries are devoted to it, especially the diet industry, the media, the 'health' industry... anywhere there is a possible vulnerability or need, someone is ready to pounce on it for their own gain.

What century is this?

Were you BANNED from Kimkins?

There is a request for information for the Kimkins lawsuit on Prudentia's blog. The immediate need is for people who were banned from Kimkins to email KimkinsCase@gmail.com - even if you have already joined the lawsuit. Prudentia is collecting materials for the attorneys. Please read Prudentia's blog for information about the other materials needed for evidence.

Thank you!
OYB

What are the symptoms of Malnutrition?

I read a blog post this morning about a Kimkins dieter who has been experiencing health problems. (More here, and here, and similar stories on the Kimkins Survivors blog) It really scared me. I thought it sounded like she was displaying serious signs of malnutrition/undernutrition, similar to the symptoms weight loss surgery patients can face. (Kimkins is marketed as an alternative to weight loss surgery - calories are similarly suppressed but without surgical intervention.)

Here is one list of symptoms of malnutrition, obtained here:

feel tired and weak
low energy levels
difficulty losing weight
can't easily get to sleep
stressed and/or nervous
drowsiness during the day
can't concentrate or get confused easily
digestion problems
constipation or hard stools
mood swings or easily upset
no patience for anything
feel depressed
overly dry or oily skin
nausea or abdominal pain
annoying eye twitches
bruise easily
muscle cramps
lower back pain
nails are thin or brittle
hair loss
water retention
don't eat well-balanced meals every day

These symptoms don't magically resolve when you take a vitamin - these symptoms are signs of damage that can be very difficult, if not impossible, to reverse.

For more information about nutrition and weight loss, Bamagal's Back Across the Line blog is really valuable.