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!
Nope
Another study gets it wrong and then claims to have proven what they set out to prove.
Heidi Diaz is still defending ultra low calories on her crash diet Kimkins website, comparing it to post-bariatric surgery diets. Where her comparison falls apart is that post-surgical patients are elaborately supplemented and medically supervised. And yet... horrific medical complications are not rare! Check out this post from Sandy over at Junkfood Science. It's really sobering stuff. If patient health can be damaged this badly WITH medical supervision, imagine how much more likely it is when taking advice from an internet diet 'expert' with absolutely no qualifications? One of her clients has been eating 470 to 700 calories per day and has stopped losing weight, and Heidi told her that she might be getting more calories than she thinks and should be more strict, and that she shouldn't eat more. It's no wonder people emerge from that site with eating disorders and illness. Fortunately, I didn't see Heidi recommend a laxative this time!
Another important point is that if Heidi Diaz' crash diet was such a good thing, then why is she overweight and sick, and unable to lose weight no matter what she does? She's selling the very advice that got her where she is today. It's easy to guess that she's completely destroyed her metabolism from crash dieting off the weight over and over.
Say NO to Kimkins!
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!
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.
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 $1.2 million. Then users began complaining of chest pains, hair loss, heart palpitations, irritability and menstrual irregularities. This was not surprising since Kimkins is essentially a starvation diet, down to 500 calories per day and deficient in many nutrients (shockingly, laxatives are advised to replace the missing fiber). In a lawsuit, 11 former members are uncovering a vast record of Diez’s alleged fraud. They found that the stunning “after” photos, including one of Kimmer herself, had been lifted from a Russian mail order bride site. According to a deposition reported by Los Angeles TV station KTLA, Diaz admitted using fake pictures, fake stories and fake IDs, and a judge has allowed the litigants to freeze some of her assets.
Oprah has regained 40 pounds. This is news. After all, it's a given that a woman's worth is determined by her waistline.
She feels bad and embarrassed. She fell off the wagon and let it run over her.
Oprah lost 67 pounds on a liquid protein diet. You know... a diet where your calories are suppressed and you drink liquid protein drinks and the weight falls off and you get into skinny jeans and feel awesome. Then you start to eat real food again and BAM! The pounds, guilt, shame & pain come back. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. She now has a thyroid problem - I wonder how that happened?
Oprah, it's not YOU, it's the #$(&*@#&##@ 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!
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:
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.
Derek, you said you only posted your success story because you're proud of your weight loss, which you achieved by eating basic low carb, ignoring the Kimkins plan details, and not participating at the website. You said you don't endorse or promote Kimkins.
Derek, this ad says otherwise. Did you consent to this? Are you getting a cut of the profits? Is it OK with you that the odds are statistically zero that they will achieve the results you did? That they'll be out $80? That their money went to support the site that is facing class action lawsuit for fraudulent marketing? That they will probably quit the plan because it's 'too strict' (nutritionally bankrupt) or they'll actually DO the diet and end up with symptoms like the people on the Kimkins Survivors? And you are OK with Heidi Diaz using you to get people to join. Did you know the Better Business Bureau gave Kimkins an F rating?
If you are really only in this to inspire others and show them what is possible, then why not tell your story at any number of free weight loss websites? Why be a cover model for Kimkins? Really, I do not get it. Is there something in it for you?
Update: AffiliateScams has more on this topic.
This was the first piece I've read by Charlotte Hilton Andersen, and I want to share it here. I looked at some of her other entries and I can't wait to read them all. According to her bio on the site, "Charlotte runs the popular health and fitness site The Great Fitness Experiment. She was featured on ABC's 20/20 and interviewed on Fox's Morning Show with Mike & Juliette. Her writing can be found on the Washington Post online, Fox News online, LiveStrong, and iVillage as well as many other health, fitness and body image sites."
Anorexic "Tips" from the Biggest Loser
Thank you, Bamagal for the heads up on your Kimkins Review blog, and for the link to the Love Your Body website.
Overall women are dissatisfied with their bodies - 80% of us. It's what makes it so easy for Kimkins and other diet websites to get a toe hold! They prey on that dissatisfaction.
Pledge to love your body today! What will YOU do to feed your body and your soul?
I am totally out of writing mojo, even about Kimkins these days. The latest on the Kimkins lawsuit is that the 3rd deposition of Heidi Diaz has been completed and went well, and the 3rd amended compliant has been filed. If you have never read the complaint, you should. Lots of evidence presented in a manner that is very clear.
Here are some blog posts that caught my eye recently. They all write better than I do anyway. Enjoy!
Past, Present and Future
What Makes Kimkins dangerous?
Notable Quotable
Kimmer's 1yr Progress
Weighing in on the Alabama Obesity Debate
In Which I Apologize and Refuse to Apologize
Kimmer's Diabetic Diet
Can MSG Cause Obesity?
Are Low Carb Diets Healthy? The Debate From Opposing Views
BDD: Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Which nutrients might help prevent the most common cause of blindness in the elderly?
Anorexia: Media Borne Illness
Disturbing and dangerous trend:
Pregorexic: Are Some Pregnant Women Putting Their Fetuses at Risk?
Part of the outrage over the Kimkins diet has been the way members and staff push themselves and each other to eat less and less, starving off the weight. This news story isn't about Kimkins, but there have been many examples of Kimkins members who want to do the diet while pregnant, or find themselves unable to stop the diet when they become pregnant. Pregnancy is absolutely the worst time to be starving your body - and your baby!
These are different interpretations of the same info. I think it's all good news! Will the world get it? I hope so!
OK, I think it'll take more than this, but still... I'll take good news where I can! Note that none of the articles says to starve yourself on a low-everything diet until you lose your menstrual cycle, muscle mass and hair.
Study: Low-carb diet best for weight, cholesterol
Low-carb and Mediterranean diets beat low-fat for weight-loss ...
Best Diet: Low-Fat, Low-Carb or Mediterranean?
I found these articles interesting and thought I'd share them here.
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This one supports the importance of essential fatty acids for mental health.
Eating Healthy Food Can Keep Mental Disorders At Bay!
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The title on this one explains itself. Don't think that supplements can take the place of food.
Vitamin-rich foods always trump a bottle of supplements, nutrition experts say
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This one talks about how extreme diets can damage fertility. Kimkins members, if you start missing periods, please stop the diet. You don't have to be down to skin & bones to be harmed this way. Sorry about that annoying Citibank ad - I can't figure out how to make it go away but if you copy the text of the story into notepad or something, you can read the words blocked by the ad.
Excessive weight loss can affect women’s ability to conceive
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The title explains itself on this one, too.
Seek lifelong health over short-term weight loss
One of the nutrients Kimkins is most deficient in is essentail fatty acids. They're called essential for a reason! Here's a post from Dr. Briffa about the importance of Omega 3s for basic brain function, and potentially protecting you from dementia.
Regina Wilshire recently posted about Omega 3s and the brain, too. On her blog you'll find a wealth of easy to understand information about essential fatty acids and balance. You can also learn about ways to lose weight and improve your health, if you are looking for a way to get off the nutritionally bankrupt Kimkins diet but aren't sure where to start.
Here's a case where Heidi Diaz / Kimmer may know what she's talking about. In a recent blog post, she reviewed the symptoms of low thyroid. (She lifted a thyroid image from here and her words from somewhere else but failed cite her sources. Figures.)
What stood out for me was the fact that the Kimkins diet causes all those same symptom, and the Kimkins Survivor blog is filled with accounts from people whose thyroids went bad while on Kimkins. Every one of the symptoms Heidi Diaz mentioned in her post were symptoms heard often from people who followed her diet.
I previously posted about adrenal fatigue here:
Do You Have Adrenal Fatigue?
Adrenal fatigue is a common disorder characterized by
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