Since I wrote my review/warning about the Kimkins Diet, there have been further developments, and I have more information about the Kimkins Diet site. I think this is important information for anyone considering the Kimkins Diet approach, so I am faithfully reporting what I have learned.
My Contacts with the Kimkins Company
After my Kimkins review went live at the beginning of August, I was contacted by Christin, the PR person at Kimkins. It was a request that I remove my article, claiming that it had false statements in it. Also included was an invitation to a free account so that I could look at the Kimkins site for more information. I accepted the invitation, and said that accuracy was very important to me and I was open to revising the article in the face of different information. Christin and I exchanged several emails about both my article and the Kimkins plan. The only real discrepancy in my original review was that I said there was "no milk" allowed. It turns out that there is a snack list which includes a 4 oz serving of Dannon Carb & Sugar Control yogurt (1 per day) and 1 oz part-string cheese per day. However, snacks are not allowed on some of the Kimkins plans.Christin also wanted to make it clear that Kimmer has never claimed to have formal training or expertise as a health care or nutritional professional.
Otherwise, we went back and forth on many points. For example, I said the diet was low in fiber. Christin answered with a list of allowed vegetables which are high in fiber. I replied that not very much of those vegetables are allowed - if total carbs, including fiber, can't be over 20 grams per day, that is not going to be much fiber, especially when fiber supplements are required to be included in the 20 grams. Other points had similar outcomes.
During our correspondence, Christin also admitted that there is no difference in the recommendations for a healthy person in their prime vs an elderly person who's body might have fewer reserves to withstand a low-nutrient and very low calorie diet. I also found out that in general less than 20 grams of carbohydrate are recommended. For example, the vegetarian option, which is stated to be "higher in carbs" is still a maximum of 20 grams. These are just a couple of examples of new things I learned which concerned me regarding the Kimkins Diet. Interestingly, I was to find out that Christin herself was very concerned, and later left the company. But more on that later!...
Simultaneous with all of this, Kimmer asked her members to email me with their weight loss stories, saying I had requested it (not true). I received well over 100 reports of weight loss from Kimkins members as "proof the diet works."
Brief Site Review
Here are some impressions and information I gleaned from my time on the Kimkins Web site:There are five different Kimkins plans. One is almost all protein - no fats, no vegetables, no cheese, etc. One ("the most popular option") comes out to about 500-600 calories per day. The vegetarian option is limited to 1,000 calories per day. There is a shake option which is 800 calories per day.
The plans are written in a very basic way, and each says to "take a complete multivitamin every day plus other desired supplements." When I asked basic questions about more details of the diet, I was repeatedly referred to various threads on the forums. It's not clear why this wouldn't be on the main part of the site, and all in one place.
The main attraction on the site is the discussion forums. Unfortunately, although there is undeniably a strong and supportive community, people are clearly being encouraged in very extreme eating behaviors, especially very low calorie consumption. There are many examples of people eating only a few hundred calories per day, and being cheered on, or encouraged to go even lower if they aren't losing. I found two long threads called "Egg White Challenge" where members were eating -- you guessed it -- nothing but egg whites.
Another thing that shocked me is that there is a popular catch-phrase among Kimkins followers abbreviated as "SNATT", which is viewed as a desirable state. There are SNATT T-shirts and SNATT mousepads in the online store of the site. What is SNATT? It stands for "semi-nauseous all the time". Why is seen as this good? Because you aren't hungry if you're nauseated. To state the obvious, being nauseated is NOT A GOOD SIGN!! It is your body telling you that something is wrong!
Latest Doings, or 'But Wait, There's More'
In the past two weeks a lot of developments have occurred.Staff Abandoning Ship
At the beginning of September, three key administrators have left Kimkins, including Christin, the PR person I corresponded with. Christin was also the "success story" whose photos appeared in Woman's World magazine. (This article drew tens of thousands of people to the site.) These women have started blogs detailing their experience in the Kimkins organization. (And more admins have left Kimkins before and since.)Becky's Blog (most detail)
