I saw this and immediately thought of Kimkins!

The 15 Most Shameless Fake Photos Ever Passed Off as Real

I bet the pictures of Heidi and some of her success "stories" could compete with these any day!

Kim Kardashian on the Photoshop Diet

Here we go again! Being attractive and healthy isn't good enough. Even Kim Kardashian requires slimming down, cellulite blurring, and lightening of her skin color. The point of this is what? Darn if I know, other than to perpetuate unattainable standards for 'beauty'. This bastardization of images of women plays into why we fall for predators hawking scams like dangerous crash diets and ineffective/dangerous supplements. We deserve better than this!

Resolve not to get RIPPED OFF this year!

It pays to arm yourself with information to protect yourself from getting scammed. Here's a good resource for checking out health-related scams:

National Council Against Health Fraud

The home page includes links to investigations, research and publications. Very handy.

Last week's edition of their Consumer Health Digest includes a link to the 20-year archive of Slim Chance Award winners! So handy if you want to check out a diet product or site!

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!

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?

Katie Couric on Kimkins?

I am just kidding, of course, but she did get Kimkins-like results. Check out the Katie Couric Photoshop Diet! Be sure to read the article so you can hear how she reacted when she found out this was done to her picture.