I am Belladonna from the Low Carb Friends (LCF) forum, and post as medusa1 on the Active Low-Carber (ALC) forum.
My first post on LCF was also posted on Kimkins Survivors. It follows...
"Belladonna
August 12th, 2007
Belladonna
When JM joined Kimkins and had such rapid weight loss, I was one click away from joining Kimkins, as well, to lose those last 10 pounds which have been sticking to me like flypaper. But something made me take pause….to my mind, his weight loss was far too rapid, which concerned me greatly. Something just didn’t add up. Needless to say, I am thrilled he has disassociated himself entirely with Kimkins, and even more thrilled I didn’t pay Kimmer $60.00.I am writing because of my deep concern for those who are looking for a quick fix, who are duped into joining Kimkins and beginning a potentially fatal diet.
I plead with all LCF members to please…please…please contact governmental agencies, investigative journalists, Dateline, Woman’s World Magazine, TMZ, Oprah, etc. to have Kimmer/Kimkins investigated and exposed, for I fear new members of Kimkins, who are unaware of the controversy surrounding the diet and its potentially dangerous consequences, could be on the fast track to an early death.
Please…if you can save just one life…
From lowcarbfriends.com “Why the Fascination with Kimmer”
Today, in a wonderful post, Becky, who was formerly with Kimkins, summarizes the Kimkins/Kimmer/Heidi Diaz controversy so well that it bears repeating here...
What happens when a deceitful, disordered person promotes effective but defective diet plans which then grow into a dynamic but dysfunctional business? That confluence forms
the perfect recipe for disaster.
The ingredients?
The person, Kimmer/Heidi Diaz
The professional practices of Kimkins
The plans of Kimkins
The plan behind the plans at Kimkins
The people of Kimkins
First, the person, Kimmer/Heidi Diaz.Much could (and has been) said, and more will continue to be speculated about and discovered about Kimmer/Heidi Diaz, I am sure. She is a fascinating person, who came to the attention of the low-carb dieting community by making extreme claims of losing 198 pounds in 11 months with her own extremely low-fat, low-calorie version of Atkins. She soon began to dominate many threads at a low-carb forum (lowcarbfriends.com), where she was the center of many heated arguments over the truthfulness of her claims and the safety of her diet. She would seemingly go from being sweet and helpful to being sarcastic and cruel in a moment. For a long time, she steadfastly refused to post photos of herself to back up her claims. When she eventually did, they were immediately questioned as suspect. Eventually, this erupted into something of a showdown, and Kimmer/Heidi left that site in a huff to start her own paid site, spreading rumors that she had been banned to gain sympathy from followers. Thus it began.
Who is Kimmer? What makes her tick? Ultimately, that will be up to the proper authorities to determine, as they will in due time. For now, since she will not appear to answer honest and legitimate questions, all that is left for others is to examine the apparent evidence collected so far. There is so much out there, and it is sometimes hard to know what is true and what isn't. At this time, it is likely that at least 80% of all the accusations against her are true, and it may be much, much worse than anybody yet knows. But, she really only needs 1 or 2 of them to be proven true for her to be forced to shut down Kimkins and go to jail.
Here is the main thing that will do it, in my opinion, and it is easy enough to prove in court. It is almost certain that she committed consumer fraud , a federal felony, by lying about her before-and-after weight loss story to sell memberships in Kimkins.com. She did NOT lose weight down to 118 lbs. years ago and keep it off all this time. She in fact is heavier now than she was in her before photo. She used a false claim and false 'after' photos of herself to sell the site.
It appears she also used other false 'success story' before-and-after photos and 'testimonies'. One uses a well-known model, Louise Vyent, for the 'after' photo, which does not match the before photo. In another, the 'success' tells of meeting Kimmer when Kimmer supposedly volunteered at a Braille Institute (which, when contacted, confirmed never happened.) Other details of Kimmer's story (like being a CASA rep) have been checked with state authorities and proven false. All this and more can be proven beyond any doubt. Thus, she is in violation of FTC regulations, and is guilty of criminal fraud.
That is not even counting a potential federal charge for mail fraud. This stems from the beginning of the site when 'Tippy Toes', current Kimkins PR person Jeannie Baitinger, organized a fundraiser for Kimmer's 'foster kids' and people sent checks through the mail as donations. California authorities have verified that Kimmer did not have foster children at the time, and has not had foster kids for many years. (Family members who have been contacted say it is because she let the middle school-aged foster kids in her care get drunk, and that she is a practicing alcoholic, which I also suspected, from communication with her.
A search of court documents has also revealed that she lost custody of her son when he was 13, which verifies the family-member story.) Moreover, even if she had foster kids at the time (which she didn't), it is a violation of foster care regulations to use foster children for fundraising purposes.And that does not count that she reportedly has been receiving Social Security money for 'disabiltiy' all this time, or that she is, according to public court documents, currently in default on a judgment for unpaid student loans.
And all that is ll apart from a charge of making false medical claims that she is not authorized to make, such as 'Kimkins is perfect for all diabetics"
And, that doesn't even take into account that she has, by all accounts, banned many 'lifetime' members at whim, with no warning, and for no legal basis except vague Terms of Service which were only changed after the fact.
And there is more.And, that doesn't even account for things that have not yet been verified, but can be proven if they are true. For instance, contacted family members say that the disability payments she is drawing are based on the grounds a mental illness. And, that she has already done jail time in the past as a con artist, who has stolen identities and used other people's Social Security Numbers.
Now Kimmer is trying to pretend that maybe Heidi Diaz did those things, but that she (Kimmer) is not Heidi Diaz. Not true, beyond a doubt in my mind.
Consider this. She has gone by the username 'Kimmer' for years on LCF and several other sites, as well. During all that same time (well before she started Kimkins.com) she also mentioned in more than a few posts as well as to some people who got closer to her that she was Heidi Diaz. In fact, she posted (and the posts are a matter of public record, and go back for years) that she was Heidi Kimberley Diaz, maiden name Miller, born May 10, 1958, in southern California, with an older son born when she was 16, and a younger son Brandon, who is now 18. State records reveal Heidi Diaz's mother's maiden name to be Drake - which matches the name Kim Drake, given to Woman's World magazine.Heidi and Kimmer, under both names, claim the same location, same birthdate, same marital history, same children, same foster parent/CASA status, same financial history, same weight loss story. People who have communicated with her by email (including me) have sent and received emails from the same person, often about the same conversation, interchangeably as Heidi Diaz or Kimmer.
Someone who has called her personal number (namely Christin) has asked for either Heidi or Kimmer, and been given to the same person, either way. Family members have confirmed that the voice of 'Kimmer' heard on the Jimmy Moore phone interview is the voice of Heidi Diaz. The photo that 'Kimmer' has used as her 'before' photo is an exact match to the person seen in the private investigator's recent surveillance photo of Heidi Diaz, seen living in an apartment belonging to Heidi Diaz, driving a car registered to Heidi Diaz, picking up mail at a postal center corresponding to kimkins.com mailing address.
Let me repeat that: Kimmer's 'before' photo clearly matches Heidi Diaz' current photo. It clearly does not match the 'after' photo of the woman in the red dress, which Kimmer posted on her site and claimed was her.
In fact, it is only after investigations began closing in that Kimmer began pretending that Heidi was someone else, not her. She told Jimmy Moore that Heidi was her cousin. She told Christin that Heidi was a friend who worked for her. (I spoke to both of these people, and each volunteered this info independently, before the surveillance photos even came out.) Now, she is telling everyone who will listen that Heidi is just someone who works for her. (Who would hire this person?)
And, even if it were true (which it is surely not) that Kimmer and Heidi were two separate people, then they would BOTH be guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud!'Kimmer's before shows the same person as Heidi's 'after', irrefutably. So, even if they were by some EXTREMELY REMOTE chance of fate not the same person, they most certainly would be co-conspirators.
Even if nothing else turns out to be true, that alone is enough to prove she is not just a self-deceived liar, but guilty of criminal fraud.Past that, the question of who Kimmer is and how she came to be this way may be debated for quite some time to come.
Posted by Becky at
2:56 PM
Labels: Kimkins, Kimmer "
I plead with anyone considering this deadly diet to please check out the blogs and forums listed below.
It could mean the difference between life and death.
Links:
Kimkins Exposed: http://kimkinsexposed.wordpress.com/
Winning Weight Loss(Becky): http://winningweight.blogspot.com/2007/09/kimkins-perfect-storm.html
Anti-Kimkins: http://antikimkins.blogspot.com/
Christin (The Journey): http://the-journey-on.blogspot.com/
Jimmy Moore's Apology: http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2007/07/from-bottom-of-my-heart-im-sorry.html
Kimkins @ Slamboard: http://www.slamboard.com/category/kimkins-diet/
Kimkins Controversy: http://www.kimkinscontroversy.com/
Kimkins Dangers: http://kimkinsdangers.blogspot.com/
Kimkins Sucks: http://kimkinssucks.blogspot.com/
Kimkins Survivors: http://kimkinssurvivors.wordpress.com/
Kimorexia: http://kimorexia.blogspot.com/
Kkatastrophediet: http://kkatastrophediet.wordpress.com/
The TRUTH starts here: http://thetruthinhiding.blogspot.com/
Please also check out the forums and other links cited on KimkinsExposed here:
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Thank you for your testimony, and for making your voice heard. You are helping others toward health, joy and knowledge.
~Kimkind Survivors
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