Kimkins Diet Scam Update

Kimkins is a diet that I first reviewed 4 months ago. It's billed as a low-carb diet, but in actuality it is low in just about everything - carbs, fat, calories, fiber, and nutrients - otherwise known as a "starvation diet." Over the course of the last four months it has evolved from a diet scam with health risks into a news story. This is the latest installment.

My Original Kimkins Review

Follow-up #1 (Inside Kimkins) - wherein I tell about my experiences with the Kimkins staff and site, administrative staff leaving, and the confirmation of Kimmer's identity as Heidi Diaz (though she still denied it)

Follow-up #2 (KTLA News Breaks Diet Scam Story) - Videos of Los Angeles TV station KTLA investigating the diet scam

Timeline of Kimkins Story

Recent Developments

Heidi's Confession - Finally, Heidi Diaz has admitted that she has been lying about her identity, and that she and Kimmer are one and the same. Further, she stated that her "after picture" was in fact stolen from a "Russian bride" internet site. For months she has proclaimed that it was her picture, even describing in a public interview how the picture was taken, and that she looks so young because she has "good skin." Furthermore, Diaz admitted that many of the after pictures on the site were also stolen from similar other "bride sites" -- over 30 at last count. (These photos were removed from the site in October.) She further admits that her frequent statement that she "lost 198 lbs and kept it off for over 5 years" was a lie, and now says that she lost half that amount and gained it all back.

Why Did Heidi Confess? - Her confession appeared on the Kimkins site around the time she appeared for a court deposition as a result of a lawsuit where she was asked questions about these things.

KTLA Video, Including Portions of the Deposition Linked From Kimkins Scam Blog

Kimkins on Fox Morning Show - The Nov. 12, 2007, episode of "The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet" featured Kimkins' PR Director Jeannie Baitinger along with a current Kimkins administrator and two former administrators (Christin Sherburne and Deni Huttula). In addition, a registered dietitian and a physician who had evaluated the diet appeared on the show. They had nothing good to say about the Kimkins diet, and were very concerned about possible dangers.

Video of Segment with Dietitian and Physician

Links to Other Segments of the Show on Kimkins Scam Blog

Transcript of Whole Show (note that "TT" refers to Jeannie Baitinger's screen name of Tippy Toes) from the Kimkins Exhausted Blog

Print Media Also Breaks Story - A newspaper from Heidi Diaz's town featured a long article about the story in mid-November.

Heidi Diaz's Assets Frozen - The court order that Diaz's assets were to be frozen - allegedly about $1.6 million. Diaz reported in her deposition that she recently paid cash for two cars and a $440,000 house.

Jeannie Baitinger Leaves Kimkins - The latest in the parade of people who were high up in the Kimkins organization and subsequently left is Jeannie Baitinger, the PR director who appeared on "The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet" representing Kimkins only 3 weeks ago. She has stated that she had been willing to forgive Diaz many of her transgressions, but that essentially the lies became just too overwhelming for her to stay connected to the organization.

At Least One Photo Still Problematic - Currently, there is one fake picture online which is still claimed to be Diaz in some locations. If this woman is familiar to you, she needs to be contacted so she can know her picture is being used.

Perhaps the Most Surprising Thing in All of This - Through all of the last four months I have been following this story, with all of the allegations, all of the fraudulent claims (some of which I haven't even discussed here), and all of the criticisms of the safety of the diet, Diaz is still on the Kimkins site giving advice, people are apparently still joining, and the diet remains unchanged. Still to this day, there is no minimum recommendation of vegetables, carbs, or even food on most of the Kimkins plans. If followed to the letter, the option labeled "most popular" would contain less than 600 calories and could be much less. Most worrisome of all is that people would not necessarily know if their bodies were being damaged until it was too late.