Recently reports have been surfacing about a dangerous albeit popular internet diet called Kimkins and a class action suit may be filed against the owner and founder Heidi “Kimmer” Diaz for fraud.

When I first started reading the story about the woman who claimed to have lost nearly 200 lbs. in 11 months by maintaining a 500 calorie diet and a SNATT (or semi nauseous all the time) state I was horrified. I personally don’t believe in dieting per se, instead I have always believed in a healthy lifestyle and healthy Kimkins is not. Aside from the health potential problems related to a fad diet such as Kimkins, this story also brings up some serious ethical issues as well. 

Over the years, we have seen many so-called diets come and go. Dieticians and other medical professionals constantly recommend balanced healthy eating and exercise as the best way to maintain physical, mental and emotional health. I have heard warnings against diet pills, no carb diets, etc and yet in a society so obsessed with weight loss and being thin, people still fall victim to their own desperation and those who prey on the desolate and impulsive.

On today’s episode of The Morning Show with Mark and Juliet (video), there was a panel which included registered dietician Keri Glassman, author of The False Alarm: The Truth About Epidemic Fear Dr. Mark Siegel, former Kimkins diet user Christin Sherburne, and Kimkins PR director Jeannie Baitenger. Both Glassman and Dr. Siegel agreed that Kimkins founder Heidi Diaz had no right to sell diet advice. In fact Glassman was so angry she practically ranted for the entire segment on how the Kimkins diet was preying on those who are desperate to loose weight.

“To begin with, Kimmer has – or Heidi Diaz or whatever her name is – has about as much right going online and selling a diet plan as I do giving legal advice. I mean it’s completely ridiculous. Who is she to go and dispel this advice? To me there are so many people out there walking around with disordered eating, and they come to medical professionals like Dr. Siegel, registered dieticians like myself, to dispel all of these myths to help them loose weight but at the same time be healthy. Anybody can go out there and not eat and loose weight but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about being a healthy person and being the best you. For many people yes they need to loose weight but in a healthy manner…” 

Dr. Siegel went on supply a laundry list of health dangers associated with diet plans that omit (or seriously reduce) carbohydrates. These dangers include: stress hormone release because it puts every organ in the body under stress, anemia, lethargy, gastro-intestinal problems, menstrual irregularities, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, as well as possibly triggering other underlying life-threatening diseases.

The original expose of the Kimkins diet came from KTLA channel 5 (video) after people began wondering in “Kimmer” was actually who she said she was. The diet became popular after being featured in Woman’s World magazine but the editors found it curious that the entire interview had to be done via email and “Kimmer” refused to be pictured. 

Eventually it came out that Heidi “Kimmer” Diaz was not the woman and success story she claimed to be; a former partner highered a private investigator to find out exactly who “Kimmer” was. Now the Kimkins diet has been exposed not only as bust but as a health hazard as well and Diaz is now addressing the controversy through her website.

Hopefully people will not continue to be fooled by the farce. I am inclined to agree with Keri Glassman about Diaz’s selling of potentially harmful diet information being unethical. There are many lessons to be learned here but one that stands out the most is that dishonesty does not pay…for long. Heidi Diaz may have benefited temporarily from her Kimkins diet plan, however it seems to me that all of her success is crumbling around her. With a possible class action lawsuit in the very near future, whatever she earned could end up being used to pay legal fees.

Read a wrap-up about the Kimkins controversy at Slamboard