Kimkins is an online diet program created by Heidi Diaz under the pseudonym 'Kimmer' that became famous in 2007 in the magazine ''

Woman's World ''Woman's World'' is an American supermarket weekly magazine with a circulation of 1.6 million readers. Printed on paper generally associated with tabloid publications and priced accordingly, it concentrates on short articles about subjects suc ...

''. The program became embroiled in controversy when it was found that its founder was morbidly

obese Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classified as obese when ...

and had provided some false

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whe ...

s on her website.

Overview

The diet was developed by Diaz on Lowcarbfriends.com—an online message board focusing on

low-carbohydrate diet Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet (nutrition), diet. Foods high in carbohydrates (e.g., sugar, bread, pasta) are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and pro ...

s . Diaz left the board in 2006 to start Kimkins with a partner, and in January 2007 ''People'' featured a column on extreme weight loss that mentioned Kimkins. The program gained popularity when ''

'' published a feature on the diet and its creator 'Kim Drake' in their June 12, 2007 issue. In August 2007, considerable negative coverage of the diet began appearing on the internet, particularly in the form of

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

s and several of the site's administrators were fired after publicly questioning the diet. In September 2007, a

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...

was hired to investigate Diaz, exposing her real identity as well as publishing numerous photos demonstrating she was morbidly obese.

Lawsuit

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuit was launched against the website in March, 2008 after it was revealed that the diet's creator was a 300-pound woman named Heidi Diaz who was promoting the diet under the pseudonym Kim 'Kimmer' Drake. During investigations for the suit it was found that the website took in $1,200,000 during the month of June, 2007 alone. It also was revealed that the post-weight loss photos were taken from a mail-order bride website rather than actually representing someone who actually had undertaken the diet. Numerous

s on the website were falsified, and several of the website employees have been fired for questioning the safety of the diet.

Consumer concerns

Members of the website were banned after they disagreed with Diaz online. People who failed to lose weight were quickly blamed for not adhering to the diet strictly enough. Diaz encouraged people to continue following the plan despite showing signs of

eating disorders An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that adversely affect a person's health, physical or mental health, mental health. These behaviors may include eating too much food or too little food. Types of eatin ...

. The diet won an award for "Worst Product for 2008" from the website healthyweight.net. The Los Angeles

Better Business Bureau The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is an American private, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization founded in 1912. BBB's self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust, consisting of 92 independently incorporated local BBB organizati ...

gave the company a rating of "F," which means they "strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices."

References

External links

Official website

"Kimkins" Diet Fraud Unmasked
by

Stephen Barrett Stephen Joel Barrett (; born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, and consumer advocate best known for his work combatting health fraud and promoting evidence-based medicine. He founded Quackwatch, a network of websites that cri ...

at Casewatch.net {{Fad diets Diets Fad diets Health fraud products