A Blast From the Past, part I

Since discovering that Heidi Diaz and her Kimkins diet plan is a complete fraud, from time to time I go back and search the advice peddled by "Kimmer" at Low Carb Friends. I always find something jaw-dropping.

For years Kimmer (Heidi) masqueraded as woman who had lost around 200 lbs. using her combo Atkins-Stillman's diet dubbed Kimkins. She also claimed at LCF to be an expert on water fasting, claiming it not only helps one shed pounds quickly, but provides a state of mental clarity and a feeling of euphoria.

Pardon me, but what a load of it!

Currently, even while facing a class-action lawsuit connected to her actions at Kimkins, Kimmer is still giving out questionable and even dangerous diet advice. And, while she maintains a knowledgeable facade of dieting expertise, she is in fact a morbidly obese woman who has NEVER lost a significant amount of weight. Just consult the recent photos posted at Amyb's blog, or ask Heidi's family.

The following is an exchange from June of 2006 at LCF between an actual medical professional - which Heidi is NOT - and Heidi's online persona Kimmer. This is just one of numerous examples where Kimmer pushes the idea that eating 500 calories a day is perfectly acceptable as a safe and healthy diet.

06-03-2006, 04:54 PM
Originally Posted by XXXX Actually,
very obese people can and do die from starvation and malnutrition. I've seen it
happen countless times over the years. Especially true in the past couple years
with the increased popularity of bariatric surgery. I work in a specialty
hospital...we function as an ICU step down unit. We've had a lot of bariatric
surgeries gone wrong. People who can't eat at all for a period of time after
surgery, or can't keep any food down, get infections, massive wounds, and die
from complications because they become extremely malnourished in a very short
period of time and can't recover and heal from the infections and wounds. Some
die from the "electrolyte imbalances" as well. It's hard to imagine 300, 400,
500, etc lb. people being malnourished but it happens all the time. Once that
vicious cycle is recognized it is often too late. Many people do not
recover, even with appropriate nutritional intervention.

Kimmer responds:
I don't want to detract your experience. But if you consider that non-bariatric surgery people go on "water only" fasts for months on end without dying, my guess would be infections and massive wound could account for a degree.Let's also include the Optifast, Medifast, Slimfast and other "shake" patients who don't die. Why not? 500 calories is 500 calories, right? I don't want to comment on your hospital and its practices. I believe the death statistics for bariatic surgery is 1%. That's 1 out of every 100 weight loss surgery patients your hospital has. If more than that someone should look into it.Let's say people don't have bariatic surgery. Who's tracking the heart disease, diabetic and other morbid obesity related deaths? I would also gather that since insurance companies, experts in risk management, continue to approve and pay for bariatic surgery, either the statistics are skewed or hospitals are in collusion. Last edited by Kimmer : 06-03-2006 at 05:01 PM.

(Bolding mine for emphasis)

From what I gathered, this person was trying to lend her expertise to the questionable advice Kimmer was giving out at LCF and got shot down.

As most any former member of Kimkins knows, disagreeing with Kimmer about anything often led to a sudden banning and a loss of the "lifetime" membership so many had paid $60-$80 to get.

But, many people disagree with Heidi Diaz' advice and believe her Kimkins diet program is dangerous. And, we will keep on disagreeing until the Kimkins website is nothing more than a 404 error message. Count on it.