Pages

Monday, November 19, 2007

My unsaid responses....

Today I will take some points made by Jeannie at the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet and give the reply that I didn't have the opportunity to say on the show.


Jeannie: (in response to who is Kimmer?) Uhm…Kimmer is in fact Heidi Diaz. Uhm, none of us really knew that. You guys didn’t know it...

My response:
Yes.. we did know it was Heidi. Christin often spoke to Kimmer on the phone.. sometimes she would ask to speak with Heidi, sometimes she would ask to speak with Kimmer... she always got the same person, the same voice... no matter who she "answered" as. I emailed with Heidi Diaz as Kimmer... they were one and the same to me... I even signed my "model release form" to Heidi Diaz... so, yes.. I knew Kimmer was Heidi Diaz, so did Christin, and so did Becky. You can't tell us that we didn't know who she was. Perhaps Kimmer/Heidi Diaz was lying to you and convincing you that we didn't know for sure.. but the truth of the matter is... we did know, and that shouldn't be a surprise to you.

Jeannie:I think maybe she fell off the wagon and gained her weight back. Listen, it’s tough.

My response:
If she "fell off the wagon"... where are the pictures of her at goal? When did she gain it back? How long did she "keep it off"? I doubt very much that she ever lost the weight... there is NO PROOF that she ever lost weight.. the only proof out there is that she is overweight. When she is able to produce proof that she at one point PRIOR to now utilized the Kimkins program and lost weight, then we can give her sympathy for "gaining it back"... but for now... I only see a woman who ridicules people for eating the very things that she has never given up.

Jeannie: Did she use some poor marketing tactics? Well yes, absolutely

My response:
Poor marketing tactics??????? Theft and fraud are about the worst marketing tactics you can use!!!! How dare you try to gloss it over and make it sound like a minor mishap. She blatantly stole photos from the internet... completely fabricated stories about herself and others and based her entire business on nothing but lies. That's not "poor marketing tactics" that's fraud, that's a crime, and it's not something to just giggle about as a "whoops".

Jeannie: 800 minimum calories, 1500 maximum

My response:
I will copy and paste directly from an email from Kimmer herself. (Remember, she is the founder of this diet.. and she is the one who sets the "rules" of the diet. Not you Jeannie!)
Kimmer's words in response to questions about people who think Kimkins is proana:
Low Calories/Pro AnaWe are low calorie after ketosis kicks in or with the shake
option, but those calories are identical to post-WLS patients (500 cal a day for
months), original Optifast and Medifast (450-700 cal a day for months). I
don't think we can fight the "1200 calorie a day mentality". Some people
cannot understand that your body takes the calories it needs from body fat if
the calories you eat are too low to sustain current weight. If you need
2500 calories (250 lb person) and eat 500 (number picked for easy math), the
other 2000 are taken from body fat. In Jimmy's interview I meant what I
said about take a Weight Watcher or Jenny Craig meal and remove the
starches. What's left? Kimkins. There is no health advantage
to adding carbs or extra fat, so why is removing them (and having less calories)
dangerous? 1200 calories a day is an arbitrary number (like 8 glasses of water).
Anorexia is a psychological disorder. Do we have people with ED on
Kimkins? Of course. I weighed 318 pounds and you don't get that big
without an improper relationship with food so I have an ED. But low
calories aren't an ED, otherwise all of the WLS patients would be medically
classified anorexic.

I have seen Kimmer on NUMEROUS occasions tell people to eat less, even when they were eating less than 800 calories a day. She personally recommended to me when I started to stick to ranges between 600 and 800, and to drop to closer to 500 if I stalled. This is what Kimkins is... there is no way you can possibly stick to the "rules" of the plan and end up with more than 800 calories on a regular basis.

Jeannie: NO (in response to do you recommend laxatives)

My response:
Another direct quote from Kimmer herself:
all I'm suggesting is someone take a regular dose for 1-2 days and then a 25-50%
dose each day after.

Kimmer often told me that Milk of Magnesium was a mild laxative that we perfectly safe to take on a daily basis and that it in no way would lead to a dependency. In going back over my own journals I realized that I was dependent on MOM while I was doing the Kimkins plan as written. I worried about taking it on a daily basis, so I only took it every 3 days or so... but I could NOT go to the bathroom without it. A full dose according to the bottle was 2 to 4 tablespoons.. in the beginning I used 2, but within a month I was needing 4 tablespoons in order to "go". After I finished off my second LARGE bottle.. I started to feel "guilty" about the laxative use.. and I switched to the Smooth Move Tea that so many others were recommending (including Kimmer). I had my "tea" every other day in order to stay "regular". I could NOT "go" without it until I stopped using the Kimkins plan. This was not just me... this might be my personal example, but I honestly felt that I had it under control much more so than the others on the site. I saw people left and right suggesting to someone in a "stall"... that perhaps they should up their dose of MOM and hope for a "whoosh" the next day. (and these "stalls" that people were having were people who had lost 5 pounds in a week, and had no change on the scale for 1 or 2 days.... please note: THIS IS NOT A TRUE STALL- THIS IS YOUR BODIES CHANCE TO CATCH UP AND RECOVER FROM THE SEVERE TRAUMA IT IS EXPERIENCING DURING FAST RAPID WEIGHT LOSS!!!)

Jeannie: We’re always willing to make positive changes

My response: Jeannie, if you want to make positive changes that will really help people... I think you need to take a hard honest look at all of this. Positive changes will only be like dipping a razorblade in chocolate syrup. It might look better from the outside, and it might even taste sweet at first.. but in the end you will find that the real "core" of Kimkins is going to hurt you in the end. Jeannie, if you really care about all these women who are writing to you... please don't force them to think that there is nothing wrong with Kimkins. You know as well as I do that there is something wrong with it. And making positive changes would serve you and the overweight community better if they were made elsewhere, under a different name, and based on a different plan. You can't layer the chocolate thick enough over this razorblade... it will always have a dangerous center to it...

Jeannie: I believe it can be used safely. Do I believe that anyone should stay on five hundred calories a day to lose a hundred pounds in five months? No. In fact, ladies, I went behind you and I read your posts and as moderators I felt you set a poor example for other people. I really do
My response:
Kimkins can't be used safely. Kimkins, once ketosis sets in will never add up to more than 800 calories. The diet itself is designed for rapid weight loss... which, unfortunately isn't safe. I wanted it to be safe just as much as you all do... but it just isn't. The plan is too general.. there are no safeguards in place. Sure.. the veggie list might have some healthy vegetables in it, but it doesn't ever tell you that you need to eat more than just 2 cups of lettuce a day. All of the "up to's" on the plan were specifically worded that way because Kimmer knows that the lower the better. And I'm sorry, but 2 cups of lettuce 2x a day (your example) is not a nutritionally sound diet. There isn't much in lettuce Jeannie... and if you think that a handful of lettuce at lunch and dinner is going to provide members with enough vitamins and minerals to sustain their bodies on a daily basis... you are sadly mistaken. As far as the 500 calories a day for 5 months statement... well... that is exactly the way that Kimmer intends the Kimkins diet to be. She praised Christin for the way she worked the plan. The 500 a day for as long as you need to is exactly what Kimmer suggests, exactly what works, and exactly what gets the results that she offers to her members.
As for mine and Christin's posts as moderators... I know NOW that when I shared from my experience that I was setting an unhealthy example. But I also know that I was setting a true Kimkins example as well. I believed 110% in the plan too... and I DID the plan 110% all the time, and all of my posts were examples of Kimkins the way Kimmer intended it to be. I thought that I was eating in a healthy manner, because Kimmer told me it was okay... she told me that I had enough fat on my body to sustain me... I thought I was leading others on to success… because I had such success… but NOW I know better. Now I know that the “ranges” I gave as my examples of eating were not nutritionally sound, and my diet was a starvation diet that will lead to many negative health problems. Hmmm but… I was doing Kimkins… does that mean Jeannie, that you are admitting that Kimkins is a starvation diet? Are you sending everyone a cryptic message that my example of the Kimkins diet in 100% commitment was a poor example?????? That Kimkins itself is a poor example for other people??? Jeannie… I agree with your perception of my posts. I came forward once I realized how WRONG my beliefs about eating were… and that’s exactly why I went on this show! I am SORRY for my part in Kimkins. I am SORRY for doing this diet and encouraging others to do the same. I now want to make up for that by setting a better example for other people… and that better example… to put it simply… is NOT Kimkins.

Jeannie: But the fact that Christin didn’t tell her doctor what was going on tells me that Christin knew it was bad

My response:
EXACTLY!!! Jeannie, I do believe you’re starting to see our side of the story! Somewhere deep inside I think you just realized that Kimkins is bad!

Jeannie: I did take it on knowing

My response:
Well, if you really knew that the diet was nutritionally deficient and unhealthy and you also knew that the founder/inventor of the diet never used it herself and manipulated everyone around her for her sole benefit… then what does that tell us about your character? If you took it on because you are a caring person and you wanted to change it and save everyone from the dangers of it, then why are you still supporting Heidi? If you really want to help people… why are you sticking up for a woman who in her own sickness takes pleasure in watching people starve themselves based on her advice? If you really care about people who want to lose weight, then why do you support the business of someone who manipulates and lies to people at every turn.
Jeannie... please, be careful… I don’t think you took this on truly knowing how sick your boss is. I’m not warning you as a “hater”… I’m speaking out of concern, because I have seen with my own eyes how your boss will turn on the people closest to her at the drop of a hat and lash out against them. You are the closest one to her now, and as her “situation” gets more and more desperate, I worry that you might be in harm’s way.




Backstage- Jeannie, you told us that you would make it your personal goal to get our photos removed from the website and advertising. It’s been a week now. Both of our pictures are still in the success story rotation, and they are also being used as affiliate link banners. If you tried to get Heidi to remove them, and she refused… can you perhaps recognize that she might not be the sweet little innocent woman who tragically gained her weight back… and she might actually be the vengeful, mean spirited uncaring woman that we have come to know? And if you haven’t tried to get them removed yet… please do… we no longer “sing praises” to Kimkins… it makes no PR sense to utilize photos and stories of people who are in opposition to your program.

10 comments:

Admin said...

Thank you for sharing all this information with us, Deni, and thank you for doing what you can to warn others away from this dangerous diet.

I wish that Jeannie would listen to you, but I fear she is in too deep.

Becky said...

Deni - This is an absolutely brilliant blog entry!

Everything you said is so right on.

Jeannie may have initially been fooled and meant well and just wanted to help, like we all did.

Frankly, I have my serious doubts about that.

In any case, it is far past that now.

Jeannie needs to realize that this is much bigger than a feud with Low Carb Friends, much bigger than an embarrassing humiliation on The Morning Show, much bigger than a power play for attention and authority, much bigger than a job shilling for an admitted criminal fraud.

Jeannie better think hard about how strongly she wants to support a crook, because she may soon be looking at court time, not only in the civil case, and probably eventually in a criminal case.

Calling crime a 'poor marketing tactic', and dismissing REAL damage to people by claiming that there is no 'proof' shows a real lack of integrity and compassion, and a willingness to try to weasel and bluff, just like her boss.

Whatever else she thinks she did on that TV show, what she really did was admit complicity to fraud.

2BIG4MYSIZE said...

thank you.

Vickie said...

Great post Deni. I'm so glad you did this. I was wishing that they would have allowed you and Christin to respond to more of the things Jeannie said on the show.

I used to think that maybe Jeannie had some good intentions, however misplaced. But I really find it hard to believe that anyone with any integrity at all could continue to align themselves with the likes of Heidi Diaz.

Keep up the good work, keep speaking out, you have truth on your side.

Joan Warren said...

Deni,

A fearlessly honest approach that obviously comes from the good heart within you. I --as always-- am extremely proud of you. It takes a strong person to admit a mistake and do what it takes to right the rippling effects of the wrong.

On a personal note, it looked like you were blogging before 6 am. Get some sleep, stay balanced, God will take care of the world! ;-)

Love you,
Mom (no not the milk of magnesia type)

Unknown said...

Thank you THANK YOU for this post, Deni! You are fabulous for standing up and putting out there this information, and the only thing I find disappointing is not being able to see Jeannie's expression after reading this fabulous post :-)

Admin said...

http://grilledcheesewithpickles.blogspot.com/2007/11/kimkins.html

GillianIvy said...

*clap clap clap*

I wish I saw this interview. Do you have a link to it?

Deni said...

Gillian,
There is links to the interview at Christin's website...
http://the-journey-on.blogspot.com/

GillianIvy said...

Deni,

I saw all four videos on YouTube. I gave them all 5stars, maybe it'll help get them viewed more often :D So far, a lot of people have seen it, so the word is getting out there.

It's a shame you didn't get more air time. But I'm sure many of the viewers will come here to hear what you've got to say.

Jeanie really didn't have much to say in favor for the Kimkin's diet. She just kept trying to skirt the issues by saying that she believes in the diet because she has so many people telling her of their success.

I'm sorry, but those are the noobs. If they listened to you and Christin, both whom had been on the diet for a fairly long term before realizing the harm done that you're not out for personal vendettas but to help women from falling victim to this scam.

As veterans of the Kimkins war, you know the health risks and warn people away. Once avid supporters now against the diet plan, hmmmm, why is that? Perhaps if they put a big disclaimer on their home page that says, "Warning: This is a scam and a starvation diet and a serious health risk. Not to be taken by anyone with heart, liver disease, women who are pregnant or nursing, minors, people with eating disorders, people desiring a healthy lifestyle, diabetics, anyone with high cholesterol, poor immune system, anyone who is perfectly healthy and wishes to remain so, seniors, people who wear digital watches, anyone who realizes that a gastric bypass is safer, or anyone with self respect.". That would just about include everyone, then, right?

Jeanie must really enjoy her new slim body to have such conviction based on no evidence and speculation and lies.

If anyone googles kimmers old posts on low carb friend forums and sees her K/E, aka "Kimmer Experiment", which entails eating nothing but egg whites for a week or something. The true "Kimmer Experiment" was could she dupe people into giving her lots of money and worship her as they do it? She started out spreading her "ideas" on these forums before enacting her website, get rich quick using a diet scam plan.

What she needed was a diet that got results fast and was affordable enough that people would flock to it like crazy. No paying for little mini-meals and books and advice from health care professionals. No exercise, no effort. Simply a meal plan of deceptively healthy foods. Make a lot of money by charging very little for nothing and to a lot of people.

Majority of people don't understand the food pyramid. It's a guideline for daily intake. When I was pregnant, I realized how unhealthy my regular eating habits really are. I don't get anywhere near enough fruits and vegetables, and I eat a lot of empty foods. I still don't eat the healthiest, but a lot better than before my pregnancy.

Love ya,
Gillian