Magicsmom's Musings

Official Notice from John Tiedt

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 00:47:00 +0000

To all Ducks

Today, October 29, 2010, Judge Rick Brown of the Riverside County Superior Court entered a verdict for the plaintiffs in a certified national class action lawsuit. The court entered a verdict against Heidi Diaz the owner of the diet website Kimkins.com for fraud and false advertising. The court awarded the class members restitution in the amount of $1,824,210.39. The court also awarded an additional $500,000 in punitive damages as well as attorney fees. The court then issued a temporary restraining order to freeze all of the assets of Ms. Diaz.

Most notably, the court also imposed an injunction requiring Heidi Diaz to post on all of her websites that: (1) she lied about her weight loss; (2) she lied about her after diet pictures; (3) she lied about testimonials on her website; and (4) she lied about the photographs used with the testimonials to promote the Kimkins website.

An injunction was also issued to prevent Heidi Diaz from contracting, harassing or cyberbulling the plaintiffs and the witnesses. A formal judgment will be entered before November 19, 2010.

The original complaint was filed over three years ago on October 15, 2007. I want to thank everyone who supported the class action lawsuit. The Ducks were wonderful. I met a lot of great people and made a lot of new friends fighting for a good cause. Heidi Diaz lied on her website and made the fatal mistake of lying in the courtroom. You cannot trust Heidi Diaz. I anticipate more legal (illegal) maneuvering by Heidi Diaz to evade the judgment. We will be prepared and I will be relentless. Again, I thank all you.

John E. Tiedt
TIEDT & HURD

Victory!

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:52:00 +0000

There will be more details to follow, but I do want to report that as of today, October 29, 2010, this case is finished. It is no surprise to those of us who have been involved in this process that by a preponderance of the evidence, Heidi Diaz was found to have committed consumer fraud, and a judgment was entered against her to the tune of $1.8M. In spite of the nay-sayers, in spite of those who thought we were being unfair to her, Heidi is a fraud, a cheat, and a liar. The court knows it, we know it, and soon the world will know it. It's a day of vindication in the world of the ducks. TGIF!

Notice of Pendency of Class Action

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:18:00 +0000

Here is the notice that has now been approved by the Court. Please pass this on - forward it to every party you might think remotely interested, including media outlets you think may have an interest in sharing this information. If you are familiar with anyone who joined Kimkins, please direct them to this notice so that as many of the 40,000 people affected by Heidi's little scam as possible will have the opportunity to know they are part of the class and can opt out, preferring instead to allow Heidi to keep their money, or, perhaps, retaining their right to sue her independently.

Hear that banging sound? Just another handful of nails ...

NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION

TO: EVERYONE WHO PURCHASED A MEMBERSHIP TO KIMKINS.COM THROUGH THE KIMKINS.COM WEB SITE (www.kimkins.com) FROM JANUARY 1, 2006 TO OCTOBER 15, 2007

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT THAT IS CURRENTLY PENDING IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT, IN RIVERSIDE, CALILFORNIA.

INTRODUCTION

1. On May 20, 2009, the Riverside County Superior Court, located in Riverside, California, issued an order certifying this case to proceed as a class action.

2. The plaintiffs are six individuals who bought memberships to kimkins.com through the kimkins.com Website (www.kimkins.com) from January 1, 2006 to October 15, 2007. The defendants are Heidi Diaz, an individual, and Kimkins (also known as Kimkins.com), a business entity that conducts business in Corona, California.

3. The plaintiffs contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com induced them into buying memberships for kimkins.com through false and misleading information provided on the Kimkins.com Web site. The plaintiffs contend that the defendants violated California Business & Professions Code § 17200, et seq., which authorizes courts to provide relief from unfair, unlawful, and fraudulent business practices. The plaintiffs also contend that Diaz and Kimkins.com violated common law prohibitions against fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

4. This notice provides you with information regarding the litigation, including the plaintiffs’ claims against the defendants and the current status of the litigation. This notice also provides you with information regarding the court’s class-certification order.

THE LITIGATION

The Plaintiffs’ Claims

5. This lawsuit is based on the plaintiffs’ claims that Diaz and Kimkins used unfair, unlawful, or fraudulent business practices to induce them into buying memberships to Kimkins.com. This lawsuit is also based on the plaintiffs’ claims that the false and misleading information contained on the kimkins.com Web site constituted fraud or negligent misrepresentation by Diaz and Kimkins.

6. Here’s a list of the kinds of misconduct that the plaintiffs have alleged:

• that Diaz and Kimkins concocted a false persona, “Kim Drake” or “Kimmer” to sell memberships to Kimkins.com
• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that “Kim Drake” was real by using photos of real women and then falsely claiming that the photos depicted “Drake”
• that Diaz and Kimkins posted lied about “Drake’s” purported weight loss
• that Diaz and Kimkins provided false or misleading information to Women’s World magazine
• that Diaz and Kimkins fabricated 41 “success stories” and published on the Kimkins.com Web
• that Diaz and Kimkins made up celebrity endorsements
• that Diaz and Kimkins misused labels and metatags to steer Internet traffic to the Kimkins.com Website, in violation of the law
• that Diaz and Kimkins misled potential members into believing that they were buying lifetime memberships, when in fact Diaz and Kimkins.com terminated memberships at their whim
• that Diaz and Kimkins intended to mislead potential members and assumed that potential members would rely on her misrepresentations.

The Defendants’ Position

7. Diaz and Kimkins have denied all allegations of wrongdoing and liability, and they continue to deny that they have done anything wrong. Diaz and Kimkins also have asserted various affirmative defenses to the plaintiffs’ claims.

THE COURT’S CLASS-CERTIFICATION ORDER

8. In an order filed May 20, 2009, the Court granted the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification. The Court certified for class treatment the plaintiffs’ claims for equitable relief, including disgorgement of the subscription fees paid to Diaz and Kimkins by the plaintiffs and the members of the class.

9. The certified class is defined as all individuals who purchased the Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007.

THE COURT HAS NOT EXPRESSED ANY OPINIONS
REGARDING THE MERITS OF THE PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIMS

10. The Court ordered that this notice be provided to advise class members that this case is pending and that the Court has certified the case to proceed as a class action. You should not consider this notice or its mailing to be a statement by the Court that the plaintiffs are right or that their claims will prevail.

INSTRUCTIONS TO CLASS MEMBERS

11. You do not need to do anything to remain a member of the class. If you bought a Kimkins.com diet membership on-line from the Kimkins.com Web site from January 1, 2006 through October 15, 2007—including either of those dates—you are automatically included in the class. Your rights will be represented by the plaintiffs and their attorneys. You will not be personally responsible for any attorney fees or for the any of the costs of this litigation.

OPT OUT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

12. You have the opportunity to opt out of the class action lawsuit as detailed herein. If you incurred a personal injury as a result of using the Kimkins.com aka Kimkins Diet, you have a right to opt out. Notices to opt must be sent to jtiedt@tiedtlaw.com or mailed to Tiedt & Hurd at 980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209, Corona, California 92879.

WHERE TO GO & WHOM TO CONTACT
SHOULD YOU NEED MORE INFORMATION

13. This notice provides only a brief summary of this litigation. For further details, you should take one or both of the following steps:

• Review the documents in the Court’s file for this lawsuit. Many of these documents may be viewed or obtained on-line at the following URL: http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/ . You also may review the Court’s file in person by going to the Office of the Clerk of the Court for the Riverside Superior Court, during regular business hours. The Clerk’s office is located at 4050 Main Street, Riverside, California 92501.

• Write a letter to the attorneys who are representing the plaintiffs and whom the Court has appointed to represent the class. Here are their names and their contact information:

John E. Tiedt & Marc S. Hurd
Tiedt & Hurd
980 Montecito Drive, Suite 209
Corona, California 92879

Michael L. Cohen
Michael L. Cohen, a PLC
707 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 4100
Los Angeles, California 90017

Ray Moore
Moore Winter McLennan LLP
701 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 200
Glendale, California 92103-4232

If you decide to contact one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, please do so in writing. To make it easier for them or one of their staff members to respond, however, your letter should include both your e-mail address and your telephone number.

There are estimated to be as many as 40,000 members in the class. So please, DO NOT CALL THE COURT OR ATTEMPT TO CONTACT THE COURT BY E-MAIL.

DATE: ___________________________, 2009

____________________________________
Hon. _________________________,
Presiding Judge

Tick Tock

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Heidi Diaz continues to elude justice. However, on Thursday, October 15th, the court will hold a hearing, hopefully to rule on John's motion for summary judgment. Which direction it will go, nobody knows at this date except the judge. If she and her attorney had a brain in their collective heads, they'd end this charade of a defense. Heidi, you can run, but you will some day have a judgment against you, the housewife who has nothing (yeah, right). The long-reaching arm of the ducks is patient and persistent, if nothing else, and that goes double for John Tiedt and his team. You can delay the proceedings until we're all in a nursing home, but there will be a conclusion to this one day, and it's not looking too good for you. Tick tock.

A Class Act(ion) Part Deux

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 02:08:00 +0000

Some recent court developments deserve some attention. In a previous post, I described the bankruptcy filed by Heidi Diaz. It was filed just a few days before the January 14th court hearing to rule on the motion to make the lawsuit against Heidi a class action. The January 20th hearing went forward in spite of the bankruptcy filing. The judge approved the motion. However, the court's ruling could not be filed because the bankruptcy court held jurisdiction at the time.

John Tiedt hired a bankruptcy attorney to join his team. I love people who know their limitations. Clearly, John knew he needed bankrutcy expertise, and he sought it. On May 25, 2009, the bankruptcy was dismissed, paving the way for a second look at class action.

On May 20, 2009, John Tiedt again appeared before the court. The honorable Michael B. Donner considered and granted the motion for class action, agreeing that fraud had been committed. Because there was no longer a pending bankruptcy holding jurisdiction, the court filed the grant and we now have a certified class action. Part deux.

On June 2, 2009, John Tiedt filed a motion for a summary judgement. As of this writing, the hearing for that motion is set for August 24, 2009. John, we cannot thank you enough.

A Class Act(ion)

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:45:00 +0000

January 14th was a great day of vindication in Duckdom. After many months of scoffing and being told repeatedly by those who were sure they knew the case better than we did that it would never happen, the judge granted class action certification in the case against Heidi Diaz. John Tiedt is a rare breed of attorney. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, and a tenacious spirit that makes him want right to triumph against wrong. I have said many times to many people over the past year plus, if you don't see anything wrong with what Heidi Diaz did, then you have no moral compass. That was my less-than-tactful way of telling them they are just as bad as Heidi is. John Tiedt is at the opposite end of the spectrum.

So my hat is off to John Tiedt, a class act of a man and attorney if ever I saw one! Well done John, and let's move on to the next phase of this quest for justice.

Heidi Diaz files bankruptcy!

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:20:00 +0000

Heidi Diaz had tongues wagging a few weeks ago when her attorney was taken off the case. That is nothing compared to what she did today. There are no words to describe it. The paperwork says it's a personal bankruptcy, and there is no mention of Kimkins. I suppose we'll learn more as time goes on, but I will close with the words of John Tiedt, the attorney handling what will eventually become the class action suit against Heidi.

Kimkins Class Action Lawsuit attorney, John Tiedt says, “We will not be deterred. We will not stop until we have justice. We anticipated the possiblity of bankruptcy. This is Ms. Diaz’s third bankruptcy. We are now obtaining a bankruptcy litigator to join our team. Our attack on the bankruptcy will start immediately. I will never stop.”

This is a man on a mission. Heidi Diaz, you have a tiger by the tail!

Out With the Old, in With the New

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:41:00 +0000

Oddly enough, this post is nothing about Heidi Diaz. I'm taking a break from her. As a year draws to a close, we cannot help but to look back upon the last one and reflect on what we did, what we didn't do, and what might have been. At the end of the year, introspection is a natural thing. So as you take inventory of the past year, I ask you to contemplate what lies beyond this life. For some, the subject of this video brings a blessed hope. For others, fear and dread, and still for others, no meaning at all. Happy New Year!

What's In a Word?

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:05:00 +0000

The following paragraphs come from an e-mail sent by Heidi Diaz to Jeannie Baitinger, who was her employee at the time. To read the e-mail in its entirety, you can visit Jeannie’s blog and read the post “Stealing and Justifying It”.

Heidi wrote:

“Thanks for the nice words. The thing is, we all operate on trust on the internet. Most of our vendors charge up front, but the tech guys and affiliates work a month behind. They trust that I’ll pay them. I can’t betray that.

If we assume for one minute that maybe I’m NOT the person “they” are describing … maybe I’m the person you know … then it’s easier to understand. I don’t screw people over. I couldn’t live with myself. Really, I couldn’t.

Let me take that back. I resented Catherine getting 50% of the profits. She hadn’t done anything to build the Kimmer/Kimkin’s reputation. She didn’t have a reputation to help bring members. Her job was marketing which was … well, I’m not sure what she did because it didn’t produce sales.”

For the sake of retaining the context, I have quoted the first three paragraphs in the e-mail, but the part I am concerned with is at the end of the third paragraph. Heidi was speaking disparagingly about Catherine, Heidi’s original business partner who helped her launch the Kimkins website. Let’s look at the last part of the last sentence – “well, I’m not sure what she did because it didn’t produce sales.” Did anything in that sentence stand out to you? To me, there is a glaring issue in those words.

If you read her depositions, Heidi claims she runs the website for the purpose of motivating people and helping them lose weight. She would have us to believe that she’s a great philanthropist who cares deeply about people and wants only to help them. It’s the reason she runs the website, after all. But what are the words she uses in her e-mail to Jeannie to describe the members she claims she wants to help? Sales! They’re not people she has the opportunity to help. For her, it boils down to cold, hard cash. Members aren’t people to her, they are sales. They represent money.

Let us not forget that in order to keep the money coming in, Heidi must sign up new members……ahem……she must sell new memberships. She claims that people like me who are telling the truth about her are cutting into those profits. We’re affecting her sales, so she’s SLAPPed some of us with a lawsuit. We’re not stopping her from helping people, we’re denying her the hard-earned cash of people her depositions say she wants to help. But do not ever forget that to her, they are nothing more than sales. It’s all about the money, people! When you live in the alternate universe, your words don't mean what people think they do.

The Alternate Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 21:39:00 +0000

Imagine with me for a moment. For years, you have been on the internet pretending to be something you’re not. You've created an entire persona based on lies. And you’re good at it. You have a lot of people fooled. They look up to and admire you for the accomplishments you’re claiming. But not everyone is fooled. A lot of people are skeptical of your claims and want to see proof. Of course, you are offended they should demand such. How dare they question you? You are shocked that anyone should not simply take your statements at face value.

It seems you’ve amassed for yourself quite the following. People fight with you and they fight for you. Your presence and your statements have a polarizing effect. Either people vehemently agree with you, or they vehemently disagree. When the time is right, you create a space elsewhere on the internet where your like-minded followers can go continue to believe and admire you. They want to accomplish what you say you have, and they clamor for your attention and advice. They want it so badly, they’re willing to pay for it.

You’re not happy with the small following you have and you begin a marketing campaign to bring in more paying customers. You manage to get a major article in a national magazine, where you tell more lies about your "accomplishment" and even provide a fraudulent picture of "yourself" for publication. You’re flooded with new paying customers. You raise your price several times, and you become very rich, very quickly.

But there’s trouble in paradise. Your business partner begins to wonder if you’ve really been telling the truth. She’s suspicious because you won’t meet with her in person. She thinks you’re hiding something. She has you investigated, and the fruit of that investigation is that her suspicions are confirmed. People start talking, and they pay for that talk. En masse, people are banned from your website and denied access to their paid membership. So they talk more.

One of the people you’ve duped demands a refund, which you refuse to render. She hires a lawyer to hold you to account for defrauding many. And people talk more. They start blogs devoted to the subject of your lies and fraud. More and more is exposed all the time, more and more sign up for the lawsuit, and more and more people talk.

You’re deposed as a part of the lawsuit, and in four separate depositions, you furnish much proof of the lies and fraud. It would seem you have been caught red-handed. Even in your depositions, so much proof comes out that you are in an indefensible position, unless you live in the alternate universe.

In the alternate universe, there is no honesty. Instead of manning up for the lies you’ve told and taking your medicine, you countersue the people who have been talking about you. You countersue the ones who have been telling the truth. And why? Because they told the truth. Yes, Virginia, there really is an alternate universe, and Heidi Diaz lives there.

How about a great big SMACK?

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:58:00 +0000

My friend Prudentia has been doing some great posts in the past week, going into lots of detail about the SLAPP lawsuit filed by Heidi Diaz. In California, a SLAPP is filed in order to intimidate witnesses into silence. SLAPP is an acronym for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Unfortunately for Heidi, there's a pesky little thing called the First Amendment to the Constitution that makes what I am doing here protected under the law. If you haven't already done it, I really encourage you to go read Prudentia's blog posts about SLAPPs. She has done a yeoman's job in researching this and making it easy for us to understand.

You see, I'm entitled to tell you about the many ways in which Heidi scammed and deceived people. There are four depositions furnished by Heidi herself that describe in detail the level of duplicity connected with her business concern. So I've been SLAPPed for telling the truth about a lying liar that lies.

In response to Heidi's SLAPP, I've come up with a little acronym of my own. You see, I want to play the role of the cheerleader here. I want you to join in loud and proud. Join Prudentia, me, and lots of others who are not backing down from telling the truth about what Heidi Diaz has done. We won't be intimidated, we won't be stopped, we won't be silenced. We won't be defeated. We stand together, arm in arm, ready, willing, and equipped to fight the good fight against lies and deception. So I encourage you to join us in giving Heidi a great big SMACK. After all, a SLAPP deserves a SMACK. So let's See More Activists Confronting Kimkins! We need you, we want you, and we will win. Everyone loves being a winner, so here's your chance. The more the merrier!

I'll See Your Lawsuit And Raise You Two Sugar Cookies and a Rum and Diet Coke!

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:11:00 +0000

Here is a screenshot from a thread at LowCarbFriends.com. If you're a skeptic, click here to see it. Post 162 in all its glory. It's Kimmer's snarky response to someone who was insinuating that she may be in jeopardy of being sued for posting her "opinion" about how to lose weight. Toothpick had posted saying that if the "good doctor" (probably Atkins) had promised weight loss of 7-10 pounds per week, he'd probably have been forced to prove it or risk being sued. Here is Toothpick's post to which Heidi is responding. Now I turn your attention to Heidi's post. Read the last line. "Now for me..you can't sue someone for their opinion." Don't forget you saw that as we fast forward to the present. But there's one more housekeeping issue before we do that. Here, from Wikipedia, is part of their definition of a blog: A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual ^[1], with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

O.K., with those things out of the way, let's talk about what this post is all about. It seems that somewhere along the way, Heidi and/or one of her legal team decided a countersuit was in order. To that end, they have filed a joke of a countersuit naming individuals who have bulletin boards or blogs on the web and have been telling the truth about Heidi Diaz and her lies. You see, to a liar like her, truth is her greatest enemy.

Her claim is that bloggers and internet posters owe her damages for 1. Interference with contract 2. Interference with economic advantage 3. Slander/Libel 4. Invasion of Privacy 5. Civil Conspiracy 6. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Heidi Diaz claims we have slandered and libeled her by telling the world the truth about her lies. Ahem, Heidi, you can't win damages against someone for slander and libel when what they told is the truth. YOU are the one who lied, and WE are the ones with truth on our side. As unfamiliar as you are to the truth, even you should realize that.

She also claims that we conspired together. What?!?!? There was a meeting and I didn't get invited? Left out in the cold once again! Heidi, there was no meeting, no plan, no conspiracy. All there was and all there remains is a group of people dedicated to telling the truth about Heidi Diaz. Nothing more, nothing less.

This blog falls under the category of commentary and description of events, as it has chronicled the fall from grace of a faux dieting guru. All this blog or my bulletin board post entries amount to is one person's opinion. Take it or leave it. Here is my opinion on the pages of this blog. But it also contains a lot of FACTS about Heidi Diaz. If I have posted it here as a fact, you can take it to the bank. But if you want to dispute my facts, roll the dice and give it your best shot. Now, I must warn you, Heidi Diaz has the habit of scrubbing her site of incriminating evidence once it comes to light. That is a FACT. If I've posted about something on her forum that isn't there anymore, then that's just the way it is.

You are welcome to come here and read it if you want to, but nobody's putting a gun to your head. Nobody's making you read this, and nobody's making you believe it. If you think my opinions and/or facts are so much hot air, you are entitiled to that view. I'm not interfering with anyone's right to enter into an ill-advised contract with Heidi Diaz, although I'll try my darndest to keep them from making that mistake. You can't sue someone for quoting facts, and to quote a phrase that seems to be all the rage, "Now for me...you can't sue someone for their opinion." How do you like them apples, Heidi Diaz?

Dieter Overbored!

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:38:00 +0000

There is a dedicated forum at Kimkins exclusively for those who are restarting the diet. I think it bears looking into. There are people who go on Weight Watchers and do the program for life. The same thing can be said of Protein Power, South Beach, Atkins, Overeaters Anonymous, and a plethora of other eating plans designed to take weight off and keep it off. There are testimonials from people who have lost weight, changed their way of eating for good, and maintained their weight loss. Heidi Diaz claimed to be one of those people, and it was all a big fat lie, but that’s a different post for another day.

The Kimkins re-starters are full of guilt. The site is peppered with posts of self-flagellation and confession of the sin of falling off the wagon. People blame themselves for having failed. At one time, they lost weight on the Kimkins program, a glowing testimonial to success by starvation. They are ashamed for their perceived failure. Someone needs to tell them they didn’t fail. Kimkins is a flawed program, and the main byproduct of that flaw is that people can’t stick to it. Some of them complain of the sick feeling (a.k.a. SNATT), becoming bored with the food choices, blame stress, pregnancies, and just plain emotional weakness. They blame everything but the real culprit: the Kimkins eating plan.

Kimkins to this day doesn’t have a maintenance plan, and is it any wonder? Who in their right mind would want to eat like that for the rest of their lives? Kimkins members are doling out vegetables to themselves in jello cups that would be better used in the recycling plant, eating carefully measured portions of romaine with a few squirts of salad spritzer, and poaching chicken breasts in fat free broth. It’s not exactly an enjoyable way of eating. Yes, it produces weight loss because of the deprivation [read very low calories], but it has an insidious effect on the body. Even those who have been fortunate enough to reach their goal weight using the program have found their metabolisms so damaged that attempting to eat normal quantities of food produces rapid weight gain. The lucky people are those who come out of it with their health intact, even if their metabolism is a train wreck.

So to all you restarters – NOW HEAR THIS!!! The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. What do you expect to accomplish by repetitively losing weight via Kimkins, only to regain it? Do not ever forget that Heidi Diaz has never lost a substantial amount of weight on Kimkins or any other plan. If you’ve managed to lose weight, you’ve accomplished more than she ever did. You are not to blame for gaining weight again, so dispense with the self-blaming. Her flawed diet plan is the culprit. Get yourself to a nutritionist who supports low carb eating and get advice on how to repair your metabolism. Repairing one’s metabolism after a bout with Kimkins is very difficult, but not impossible to do. However, you need counsel from someone who knows what they’re talking about.

There is another factor to following this plan, and I speak this from first-hand experience. For a certain group of people of which I am one, the deprivation of Kimkins causes binge eating once the individual has had enough of the starvation. This, of course, leads to rapid and excessive weight gain. Some people end up where they started, or worse. All-or-nothing personalities have no business even trying Kimkins. It is a train wreck waiting to happen. Do yourself a favor. Look into Atkins, Protein Power, South Beach, or some other low carb plan that actually allows you to EAT! Pick one you can stick with for the rest of your life. Avoid extreme plans. The deprivation and boredom of the Kimkins plan are just not worth it.

Why the Silence, Heidi?

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 23:42:00 +0000

"Has anyone ever done kimkins while pregnant? This is my third child and I really don't want to gain weight I am already heavy and I would actually like to lose a little weight. Please let me know...."

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a word-for-word representation of a post make at Kimkins 8 days ago. Heidi has had 8 days to respond, but she hasn't, and neither have either of her admins, Gary or SingingLass. One must ask oneself why they are reticent to respond to this woman's question.

Seven months ago, someone asked a similar question on behalf of a friend. Dr. Mark Mark (remember him?) was quick to answer “no” and went on to explain why. The ever-supportive Kimmer chimed in and added to his answer. In other words, she agreed. What has changed in the last seven months that would cause her to go silent on the same question? Only Heidi can answer the question. I’m sure she won’t, but that doesn’t stop me and others like me from wondering...................... why the silence, Heidi?

There is a lot of research that proves VLCD's are very harmful to pregnant women and their unborn baby. Very Low Calorie Diets are defined as daily intake of 800 calories or below) In reality, one does not need to post at Kimkins to get an answer to this question. The information is out there for anyone to read. It was Tippy Toes a.k.a. Jeannie Baitinger who started the concept that Kimkins should be at least an 800 calorie per day plan during the time in history when the website was supposedly under new ownership and the Kimmer was absent from the public eye. Of course, if you do the math and follow the guidelines the Kimmer gives, you cannot possibly get to 800 calories a day. The devil is in the details. Do you think it was a coincidence Tippy pulled that number out of the air? Ummmm, no. She did it so Kimkins could get out of the reputation it had amassed itself of being a starvation diet. It didn't work, mind you, but it was a valiant effort nonetheless. Kimkins isn't safe for people not carrying children, let alone expecting women. It is an easy question to answer, so why has the administration at Kimkins gone silent on this issue? Inquiring minds want to know.

Wonderful, helpful Kimmer! What a saint!

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 23:20:00 +0000

The Fascination With Kimmer threads have been a wonderful expose of the fraud we have come to know as Heidi Diaz. However, they have not been without the occasional visits from Kimmer apologists who want to admonish us that she gave away information for free for years. They say this as if she is to be commended for it. I won’t even get into the efficacy of her weight loss advice. It has been well established that she has as much business handing out weight loss advice as Tam O’ Shanter had handing out temperance information about drunkenness.

For the edification of those who want to canonize Heidi Diaz for her kind helpfulness, here are some of her less than stellar moments on Low Carb Friends. Read on and ask yourself if wonderful people act like this. Bear in mind, all of these posts were done when she was supposedly being helpful.

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/430907-we-undersigned-6.html#post7060736

Post # 171 from the Kimmer herself. Now we know why she had such little patience for those who wanted to see photographic proof of her outrageous weight loss claims.

Kimmer said: “I have very little patience with people who demand things of me. Photos, "proof", whatever. If you, they or anyone thinks I'm wrong or lying, so be it. Move on to the next thread. There's no need for anyone to be a Mother Hen and protect the universe. If someone is smart enough to find their way to this site and my thread, they're smart enough to think for themselves.”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/430907-we-undersigned-6.html#post7060736

When someone suggested she may someday be held liable for handing out her advice, Kimmer responded in post 162:

Kimmer wrote: “I mean this in the nicest way, but you don't know what you're talking about.

Do you have any lawyers in your family? Cousin, sister, uncle, grandmother? Tell them what you're saying, ask what they think. Ask them to explain contract law. What a "promise" is. What "consideration" is.

I'm not being cocky, I'm stating law.

Let's say you get into a car accident and it's the other person's fault. That person has no car insurance, no job, no savings, doesn't own a home. Your back is killing you or your leg is broken. See if you can find a lawyer who will represent you for a percentage of what's recovered. Now, for me ... you can't sue someone for their opinion.”

My comment: Ahhh, but you can sue someone who has made millions charging people for that opinion, especially when the “opinion” is nothing but lying, fraudulent hot air. Read on for more gems.

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/430907-we-undersigned-5.html#post7058884

Kimmer in post 133. She was already warming up her “judgment proof” line:

Kimmer wrote: “1) I'm judgement proof. 2) I'm not offering my advice for a fee. 3) I'm not an agent of Netrition or LCF, nor do they endorse me.

In the same vein, I offer advice on a family law site. I cannot be pursued for UPL (unlicensed practice of law) because I receive no fee.”

My comment: Well Kimmer, the day you started charging people to join your website was the day your judgment proof status went poof!

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/431338-ask-kimmer-80.html#post7065608

The Kimmer waxes eloquent about fasting in post 2389. Yeah, it’s really helpful to encourage people to STOP eating!

Kimmer wrote: “Believe it or not, after you stop eating for a week you don't think about it much. After two weeks, it feels normal not to eat.

Why?

We spent an extradinary amount of time food shopping, putting groceries away, prepping, menu planning, cooking, cleaning the kitchen, washing dishes ... and when you take all of those food related activities away, you're literally forced to take a hard look at yourself.

This is when most new fasters quit, around day 4. Mentally they're freaking out. They're sure they're starving. They miss their dear friend, "food", and food addiction is a very strong habit to fight.

OK, without food what am I? Who am I? If something bad/good happens and I don't celebrate or commiserate with food, what else on earth can I do?

You take a whole new look at yourself. Until you go through it, you don't know what I'm talking about.

The energy high is incredible.

Detox is a lulu, but you thank your body for doing what it does best, establishing priorities and taking care of business.”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/main-lowcarb-lobby/430950-best-wishes-your-tummy-tuck-vicky.html#post7054013

Helpful Kimmer dishes out advice to put a serious alpha hydroxy product on a fresh surgery scar! There is no limit to this woman’s sadism in post #3

Kimmer wrote: "Vicky, you're going to be thrilled when all is said and done! You'll kick yourself for not doing it sooner!

Ask your surgeon about using Retin-A on your incision. It really makes a difference in healing the scar. Don't lift stuff, not even kids!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!"

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/431338-ask-kimmer-77.html#post7065507

And of course, encouraging us to eat so little that we feel sick. SNATT (slightly nauseous all the time) was to be attained. In coming days, she sold t-shirts with SNATT on them. No limit to this woman’s avarice. Post # 2288

Kimmer wrote: “The SNATT will come, for some it's 3-5 days depending on where your body was at the start. Then again, I don't get SNATTy on water fasts anymore, go figure?

Hey, you're losing 2 lbs a day! We can only do so many miracles in one day, LOL!”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/431338-ask-kimmer-75.html#post7065468

Post 2249 – Kimmer berating someone for not losing weight fast enough to suit her. Bolding mine.

Kimmer wrote: “If you're committed, it works like nothing you've ever tried. Read through the thread, check the astounding losses.

I don't begrudge people who lose slowly, I just don't see the valor in taking forever and a day to do something that can be done in a few months.

You're an exerciser? Great! Just don't eat more to compensate or you'll be shooting yourself in the foot.”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/431338-ask-kimmer-74.html#post7065411

Post 2192 – Hey! Step away from that cream in your coffee! And don’t you know that you should dole out those veggies with a jello cup, and don’t you even think about putting butter on them!

Kimmer wrote: “Mischale, your earlier coffee drinking with cream absolutely had something to do with slow loss ... calories. Good that you're holding for awhile, although you may need a substitute for cream calories. Worry about that when you get there ...

Adding low carb low cal veggies won't slow you down. The danger is drowning lettuce in 400 calories of salad dressing. Try a handful of mixed lettuces with low cal Italian dressing that you shake ... only take a couple shakes. Or try the Wishbone spray dressing - 10 sprays, 10 calories.

A serving of cooked veggies (broccoli, spinach, asparagus) is only .5 cup. A jello cup. That's only a handful of calories, just don't kill the low calories by adding a lot of high calorie butter. See post above about non-trans fat margarines instead.”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/main-lowcarb-lobby/430496-heavy-ketosis-but-no-pound-loss.html#post7042979

In post 11, the expert on rum and diet Coke speaks!

Kimmer wrote: “Not living in Cheryl's house, my guess would be her age, weight (not extreme) and that she indulges in rum & diet cola on occasion.

Alcohol is burned before anything else. It's not digested. It's like throwing lighter fluide on a BBQ.

So, if Cheryl had 2 rum & diet cola drinks at home (I'll guess 3 oz per drink), that's 200 calories before anything else, and if that's my ounces are correct.”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/431338-ask-kimmer-72.html#post7065373

Post 2154 – the Faux Dieting Guru says for the gazillionth time that starvation mode doesn’t exist.

Kimmer wrote: “Starvation mode overblown? Try non-existent.

Recall our metabolism is a living thing, changing every minute, actually, depending on our food intake and activity. It drops to a standstill while we sleep. Do we wake at 2 am to refeed? Hopefully not.

You're an inch away from goal. Drop your carbs & cals and you can get rid of 5 lbs this week.”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/431338-ask-kimmer-71.html#post7065332

As seen in post 2113, Kimmer grills someone over their Fitday entries. How many times did we see this?

Kimmer wrote: “Pecans - 1/10 of an ounce? Is that 2 only? skip Okra - half a package of frozen? keep to .5 cup cooked Turkey bacon - every day? sodium? nitrites? what's a "serving"?
Spaghetti sauce & Mozz - what did you make? Ground beef - 1 cubic inch? for what?
Turkey lunch meat - 1.3 slices, what's the .3 for? just curious
Whey powder - what do you mix it with? brand?
Flank steak - 1 oz? accurate? that's like a 1" cube?
Strawberries - skip for now
Blueberries - skip for now
Cheese - skip for now
Italian sausage - skip for now
Summer squash, 1.5 - limit to .5
Cabbage .25 head - limit to .5 cup cooked or less
Almond butter - skip for now

Is this the "over" day? 40'ish carbs?

Cashews
Watermelon
Pistachios
Buffalo franks
Pork ribs

You had way earlier entries with oatmeal, cake, bread, etc. so I'm not commenting on those.

Overall everything looks good.

You're so close you might have to cut carbs further. How about trying the Kimkins deal of 3 cups of lettuce-y stuff or 2 cups + .5 cup cooked, per Dr. Atkins?”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/431338-ask-kimmer-69.html#post7065277

More scrutinization and berating from the Guru in post 2058. How dare you eat all those vegetables!?

Kimmer wrote: “If you want to lose "better" and get to snatt, you're going to have to cut back on carbs.

The chicken you picked in your Fitday says "coating". Are you eating chicken with a flour batter coating?

You're eating too many higher carb veggies for your new, tiny body. You're at 30 carbs a day in veggies alone:

Broccoli, 2 cups
Green beans, 1.5 cups
Brussell sprouts, 4 oz

Do you like lettuces or spinach at all? Can you cut back your veggies to .5 cup servings?

You won't get SNATT with the amount of veggies you're now eating ... too much sugar.”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/main-lowcarb-lobby/430067-how-much-cup.html#post7037094

The Guru turns snotty (not snatty) in post # 12

Kimmer wrote: "My mistake. I just figured that someone who knows exactly how many carbs she can eat and still lose would know exactly how to measure the food, otherwise how has she been getting exact carb counts?”

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/kimkins/425334-still-nauseous-2.html#post6928395

Post # 60 – she tries to discredit a chiropractor by pointing out he’s not a medical doctor. Kimmer at her snarky nastiest. Bold type is hers.

Kimmer wrote: “My analysis of your phrase wouldn't be "innate skeptic". Few think are possible? What planet are you on? Why do so many try it? Why has Optifast been in business for 30+ years?

If you think you're on to something, this might be the time to take the jump from chiropractor to try and qualify for medical school. Then you can write a book and open a "safe" weight loss clinic.”

There really are no words to express the outrageousness of all that this woman has done. You can try until you're blue in the face to tell people about her, but her own words condemn her the most.

My response to "Anonymous"

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Those who live in glass houses........

Well, this has been a banner week for the blogs, inundated with especially nasty comments from who else but “Anonymous”. Can’t you just see that on someone’s birth certificate? Look! My Mom named me “Anonymous”! But I digress……

I have decided not to put the comments sent to me in the comment section. They don’t deserve that honor. No, I will put them here in my own post with my responses. You see, “Anonymous”, this is my blog, and I get to call the shots here. Don’t like it? Get over it!

Many people say I don’t owe “Anonymous” a response, which is true. But I am going to respond nevertheless. The reason is not because I think “Anonymous” deserves for me to address the comments, but because I want the world to see how nasty Heidi Diaz and her entourage really is. The people the Kimkins members turn to for support think like this:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "It's Alright to Feed My Body!":

{when the menu says they are having "turkey", it's a very small portion. Most doctors are brainwashed in the low fat way of thinking anyway, so KK looks wonderful to them. But if they knew the portion sizes, they'd not be so quick to bless it.}

*Not true, it's all the lean protein you want, eat a pound if you want, if you starved yourself it was your own fault, remember {It's Alright To Feed My Body} maybe you should consider getting your underlying psychological issues worked out first, otherwise no diet in the world will help you.

Do you even have any idea how idiotic you looked in that video?

Someone sent me a clip of you spouting off the {I wanna see her in jail} edited to repeat the phrase over & over again like a broken record for my blog, & it is hysterical!

Question though, so we can know the truth, I have been asked the following questions and wanted to verify.
a) Is that a wig you are wearing?
A similar comment made was:
The hair looks fake, maybe it's the color, or lack of style.

b) What is that ugly bump on the bridge of your nose by your eyebrow?
A similar comment made was:
Is it a cyst, or a wart? I'd have that removed, & maybe update her wardrobe a little, she looked like a man.

Toodles Girly, keep it coming & spinning those broken records so we can have a rap song made next. The ducks are giving a wealth of wonderful material for parody. You guys are great!

Nice. For the sake of argument, I will answer as if Heidi wrote these comments.

"*Not true, it's all the lean protein you want, eat a pound if you want, if you starved yourself it was your own fault, remember {It's Alright To Feed My Body} maybe you should consider getting your underlying psychological issues worked out first, otherwise no diet in the world will help you."

I starved myself, Heidi, because that is exactly what you encouraged us to do. SNATT was to be achieved and proudly worn on a t-shirt or sported on the mouse pad on your desk. If you weren’t feeling SNATT-y, you weren’t doing KK right, and I did it right. I had SNATT up the wazoo. If you read the post you responded to, you’ll see that I am seeing a nutritionist, so I’m addressing the mindset you instilled in me to cut my calories more and more and more. My nutritionist is not a fake handing out fake advice, she’s someone with a real education and knowledge I can trust.

"Do you even have any idea how idiotic you looked in that video?"

And you call the ducks “haters”! KK members, here are the true colors of your faux dieting guru. She’s making fun of how you look, too, I can guarantee it.

"Someone sent me a clip of you spouting off the {I wanna see her in jail} edited to repeat the phrase over & over again like a broken record for my blog, & it is hysterical!"

And I thought you were too old for Junior High.

"Question though, so we can know the truth, I have been asked the following questions and wanted to verify.
a) Is that a wig you are wearing?
A similar comment made was:
The hair looks fake, maybe it's the color, or lack of style."

My, but you are obsessed about people’s hair. You said similar things to Nancy Elle. Oh I know! It must be because YOU are the one wearing the wig. It must really gall you that there are women with real hair.

"b) What is that ugly bump on the bridge of your nose by your eyebrow?
A similar comment made was:
Is it a cyst, or a wart? I'd have that removed, & maybe update her wardrobe a little, she looked like a man."

Heidi, the day you explain the MANY bumps all over your face, as shown in the photo above, that will be the day I explain to you the ONE bump on mine. I look like a man? Is Gary in the habit of wearing gray cotton knit dresses?

"Toodles Girly, keep it coming & spinning those broken records so we can have a rap song made next. The ducks are giving a wealth of wonderful material for parody. You guys are great!"

What some call broken records others call consistency. That's what happens when you tell the truth. Your story doesn't change. It's a concept you are obviously not acquainted with at all. I'd much rather be the subject of parody than the plaintiff in a lawsuit, an internet pariah, known world wide for being a scam artist, liar, and thief.

So, “Anonymous”, here are your fifteen minutes. Enjoy them, for I will never again find an e-mail from you in my in-box. From now on, you’ll have to stop playing the coward and tell me who you are if you want to send a comment to me, so slip on those big brass cajones we all know you have.

Bait and Switch

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:43:00 +0000

Back in my [much] younger days, I worked for Sears Roebuck. There was a lawsuit in 1975 involving my former employer. The Federal Trade Commission accused Sears of the deceptive business practice of bait and switch, luring customers into their stores with a tempting sales price, only to tell the customer the item was out of stock. Then a more expensive product was suggested, and sometimes the customer ended up spending more than they expected to. Sears lost the case and has been the target of bait and switch accusations ever since.

When I purchased my Kimkins membership, there was a list of services listed for charter members, of which I was one. Here was the bold claim made on the front page of the website:

Charter Lifetime Membership Includes:

Detailed info about the Kimkins plan, straight from the source!
Personalized Kimkins coaching, direct from Kimmer!
Unlimited access to Kimkins.com forums for inspiration, guidance and friendship
Your own personal journal for posting progress photos, notes and thoughts
A free copy of the Kimkins e-Book due out soon!

It cannot be disputed that these were the promises made to anyone purchasing a charter membership. If you doubt the truth of this statement, go to Wayback Machine, enter the Kimkins website, and click on the first date that comes up, July 2, 2006. You will get an unadorned shot of what the home page looked like on that date. I joined on June 11, 2006, and the promises were the same.

When contacted by the California Attorney General’s office to investigate a complaint I submitted, Heidi Diaz lied to them about the reason she (or one of her minions) banned me from Kimkins. She provided to them the text of a post I made at Low Carb Friends, and any idiot could tell from the context that it was my reaction to being banned, not the reason for it. Her claim was that I still had access to information about the diet program, food list, grocery list, sample menus, and recipes and therefore she had not denied me anything I paid for.

Isn’t it interesting that I don’t have access to anything on the list of perquisites I was promised when I joined? Heidi thinks that because I have access to a few paltry pages of her website that she has not breached her agreement with me. I submit for your consideration that this is classic bait and switch. She promised me personal coaching and information straight from “the source”, unlimited access to the forums, and my own personal journal. I’ll give an honorable mention to the “e-book”, which turned out to be an “e-page” and wasn’t even written by Heidi. I did receive it, and it was a joke.

In order for there to be a contract, both parties must come to a meeting of the minds. When I gave her my money, both Heidi and I understood and agreed that what I was purchasing was the membership benefits promised on the date I joined. Heidi Diaz had no just cause for banning me from the website. If there had been one, she would not have lied to the Attorney General about it. After having lied about the reason for banning me, she gave them the laundry list of pages I can still view, but none of them are what I was promised when I joined. What matters is what I purchased, what I have access to now, and whether or not I did anything to justify losing part of my membership. This is classic bait and switch. Heidi is trying to claim she’s fulfilling her obligation to me. Sorry Heidi, if Sears didn’t get away with bait and switch, neither should you.

It's Alright to Feed My Body!

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:09:00 +0000

On Friday, I had an interesting visit at the doctor’s office. My doctor and his wife share office space. She’s a nurse practitioner who specializes in nutrition, and they both happen to be avid low-carb eaters. It’s like having the Eades’ for my own personal physicians. :-) She attached electrodes to my left foot and hand, had me lie down, and used a gadget to get some readings. Then I weighed myself, she put the findings into a computer, and it was time to talk.

She found it very refreshing that I already knew about low carb eating and was happy that I’m already on board with it. I’m sure she spends a lot of time talking to people who have been brainwashed by the low fat crowd, trying to convince them that carbs, not fats, are the macronutrients to avoid. I didn’t need to be convinced to avoid bread, sugar, flour, grains, or low fat products, but I needed to be convinced that it’s alright to feed my body.

After evaluating a typical day of my eating pattern, she concluded that I’m not eating nearly enough. My metabolism is in the tank because of the famine my body thinks is going on. It’s my own personal little famine. For as long as I can remember, I’ve believed that to lose weight, you must eat less. I’ve always been able to lose weight by starving myself. As my profile information states, I’ve had anorexic tendencies since I was a teenager. My parents were willing to let me starve weight off, only to put it back on. I’ve imposed a famine on myself in order to lose the weight. The nurse practitioner thinks my body is in starvation mode. In other words, my body is storing everything I eat because I’m not feeding it enough. The next step would be for it to cannibalize itself, using my lean body mass to get the protein it needs. It’s amazing how our bodies work.

Starvation mode is a very interesting topic. At one point in time, if you wanted to start a thread destined to the recycle bin for getting too heated, all you had to do was go to the Main Lobby at Low Carb Friends and ask if starvation mode exists. It was a guaranteed dust up, and it got nasty. One of the most vocal against the existence of starvation mode was none other than Kimmer, a.k.a. Heidi Diaz. She posted about weight loss surgery, stomach flu, and medically supervised liquid diet “fasts”, all of it designed to "prove" her deduction there was no such thing as starvation mode. Her opinion was the basis for the starvation diet known as Kimkins. If starvation mode does not exist, Kimkins is a sound way to lose weight, albeit not an easy one. If it does exist, Kimkins is dangerous.

It's no wonder I fell prey to the failed conclusions of Heidi Diaz. It simply reinforced what I believed and practiced for many years; to lose weight, you eat less and you go hungry. She confirmed what had always worked for me. The problem with it was, I trained my body for famine. Whether I’m in weight-loss or weight-gain mode, I am storing what I eat, the effect on my weight has been disastrous, and it's been going on for decades. My nutritionist could not believe she was hearing me apologize in advance for eating too many tomatoes this summer. It's the first time I've ever had my own garden, and I do plan to indulge in the tomatoes. She told to me eat as many tomatoes as I want. How refreshing!

A phrase was once coined that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting a different result. What made me think I could lose weight starving and keep it off? I never have been able to before. I am in for a quantum leap in my understanding of nutrition and what makes my body tick. Although I’m not one given to mantras, my nurse practitioner nutritionist wants me to daily tell myself “it’s alright to feed my body”. While I may not recite it out loud, I will tell myself this every day. If my broken metabolism is ever going to be repaired, this is the way to do it. I’ve been told to eat as much as I want from a list of fats, proteins and vegetables, using caution with nuts. Who would think you don’t really have to dole out broccoli to yourself measured loosely in a jello cup? Certainly not Heidi Diaz, but she is no longer the person I’ll take nutrition advice from. I pray for every person still under her influence, that they may also take the same quantum leap I am taking. Join me. It’s alright to feed my body.

Of Mice and Men

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:17:00 +0000

Every now and then, something comes along that absolutely sticks in my craw. Of late, the blogs dedicated to exposing the fraud we’ve come to know as Heidi Diaz have been inundated by people who seem hell-bent on setting us straight. They opine that we need to get a life, a job, move on, get over it, and other worn out phrases usually directed at the lazy, unproductive members of society. This hardly describes the group of people known as ducks. I have found them to be the most tenacious, unwavering group of people who are dedicated to the absolute truth about Heidi Diaz and her exploits.

Here’s a gem of absolute truth about the ducks. They never pretend to be someone they are not. You will see comments on blogs posted by BamaGal, Mayberryfan, TRUTHinhiding, Mariasol, HoneyBee, Medusa, Yucky, daisyrat, mrsmenopausal, awakened (Deni), Christin, and a list of others too numerous to mention. What is my point? They are who they are no matter where they are posting. You know who you’re dealing with. Their message doesn’t vary or waver and you have no doubt where they stand at any given point in time. It takes guts to be who you are.

Then there is the other crowd. They make up cute names like Martina’s Martini, Elmer Fudd, and some are especially creative, calling themselves “anonymous”. You never know who you are dealing with. Sometimes their writing sounds remarkably like Heidi Diaz’ rants, especially after a date with the Cap’n. Elmer Fudd’s recent comments on my blog reminded me of the Wonder Woman rant we once saw on the Kimkins board. But who knows? It could have been Singing Lass or Gary, or any other number of Kimmer devotees who despise the duck squad for telling the truth. Hiding behind a name no one recognizes is cowardly. They come and lob their bombs anonymously and then scurry away like cockroaches when the light comes on. Elmer recently told me the anti-Kimkins blogs were becoming a droning. He or she didn’t even have the creativity to come up with something original, but used my own words and told me that the ducks were as I had portrayed the five o’clock Charlies to be in my TGIF post. If you want to insult me, at least have the class to come up with something of your own.

Here’s the deal, Elmer, and anyone else who agreed with him or her. You don’t have to come to our blogs and read. Nobody is holding a gun to your head. If you decide to go to a blog or visit the Fascination With Kimmer threads, accept that you are treading into “enemy” territory. You come to our blogs of your own accord and subject yourself to our droning, so buck up and be men, not mice. If you have an issue with something that’s been said and want to post a comment, then be who you are instead of acting like a coward. If our writing is so tedious, spare yourself the aggravation and stay in your fantasy land where you can believe Heidi Diaz gives a rip about you. If you come to our house, expect to hear our perspective, suck it up, and take it like men! You are not entitled to visit our sites and tell us what jerks you think we are. As despicable as you think the ducks are, they are the ones presenting themselves for who they are, and you are the cowards hiding behind fake personas. It says a lot about your character, but then again, if you see nothing wrong with what Heidi Diaz did, you may not have any character.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 05:15:00 +0000

I started this blog with a post about my anger toward Heidi Diaz. I’d like to tell you that my anger has subsided, that I’m getting over it and moving on, but I can’t. Lately, there have been some excellent blog posts by TRUTH and AmyB that recant the party line I've seen Kimmer post over and over.

She doesn’t believe in starvation mode. It makes me cringe when I think that I actually swallowed that line of bunk from her. Many times I saw her post that if you have stored fat on your body you will not starve because your body will take what it needs out of the reserves.

She doesn’t believe in plateaus. If you are not losing weight, you’re doing something wrong – probably not measuring your portions properly, probably not weighing your food. To hear her tell it, if you do it right, you will experience a domino effect and the weight will come off in ever-increasing increments. I believed this line of crapola and completely starved myself for the month I did her plan. I never could figure out why my dominoes wouldn’t fall. That's because her domino theory is fallacious, but in the view of Heidi Diaz, it was because I was doing something wrong. It was all my fault. I guess 200 calories a day was too much. I guess I didn't want it badly enough.

I recall the first time in which I had an open disagreement with her in front of the world. Someone asked a question about ketosis-induced diarrhea. Because I am one of those people who experience this phenomenon, I shared with the poster my knowledge on the subject. It was the Atkins Nutritionist who helped me solve this problem. She told me to take citrus bioflavonoids and I was cured. It was like a miracle to me after seven straight months of diarrhea. No more taking Immodium to keep it at bay. Even after I shared my experience with the poster, Kimmer had the nerve to come to the thread and contradict me. She told the poster that her body would adjust and within a few days, the diarrhea would be gone. I sarcastically responded, “What? You mean I had diarrhea for seven months and didn’t have to? Why didn’t my colon get the memo?” Kimmer didn’t respond. She doesn’t like for people to publicly tell the world that she was wrong about something. Oddly enough, Kimmer ran the Atkins Nutritionist off the Low Carb Friends board with her constant harassment. It must have really galled her that I credited her nemesis for curing my diarrhea. In one fell swoop, I offended her on two fronts. It was actually good work, even if I didn't realize it at the time.

Every time I re-read her horrendous advice to people to eat less, take laxatives, don’t worry about low calories, I feel the anger rising up in me again. It's like the gift that keeps on giving. This woman must be stopped! She is probably still giving people the same advice privately, even though her website has been scrubbed clean of any evidence she ever advocated dangerous dieting. It is criminal the way she doles out advice that can damage people’s health. Kids could lose their moms, husbands could lose their wives, people could lose precious sisters, cousins, dear friends, or co-workers. Someone you know could right now be taking the dangerous advice of Heidi Diaz and you may not know it.

Well, I am publicly telling people here and now that she is wrong about a lot of things. It doesn’t matter that she writes eloquently and with authority. Help us give the gift that keeps on giving to the low carb community. Help us bring this dangerous woman down. Do you live in San Diego County and are you a member of Kimkins? Please, if you are a member who lives in San Diego County, contact the Kimkins lawsuit website. You can help make the world safe from Heidi Diaz, and the life you save may be that of someone you know and love.

Faux Dieting Guru

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:57:00 +0000

One of Heidi Diaz’ latest contributions to her viral marketing campaign is an article entitled “Are you Faux Dieting?”. Reading this article raised up in me the old memories of her admonitions. It was not a fond memory. It took me back to the days when I honestly believed I would never again be able to enjoy a dessert with my family on a holiday, have a spoonful of dressing on Thanksgiving, or a Margarita with my meal at a Mexican restaurant. Heidi’s a gifted writer to be sure. There’s a compelling reason she has duped so many people. She has a way of writing in a convincing manner that leads you to believe she is right. Most likely, she’s the same in person, speaking confidently and unwaveringly, right all the time and willing to tell you so.

The problem is, her diet advice is all based on the hot air that comprises Heidi’s persona known to us as Kimmer. She wants to continue to convince people that on the topic of dieting, she is a guru. We all know by now that she has no business telling anyone how to diet. Being incapable of sticking to a diet herself, I find it particularly offensive that this woman should tell anyone they need to make a plan for the next family gathering. I hate to tell her, but in the real world, people don’t eat a grilled chicken breast with sautéed spinach while their family is feasting on barbecued ribs, salad with real dressing (not a spritzer), homemade rolls, and baked beans. Never mind that she expects you to overlook a table full of desserts home made lovingly by your family.

We must ask ourselves do we really believe that Heidi actually does the things she preaches for us to do? I’m sure she doesn’t. She asks you to evaluate if you have made a 100% commitment to our weight loss plan. I think that’s code for “have you made a whole hearted full time 100% commitment to me (Heidi)?”. What she seems to crave more than anything is our admiration, our affirmation, even our worship. I think she parlays her own self-loathing into an opportunity to make us loathe ourselves too, in the form of denying ourselves the enjoyment most people get from food. After all, misery loves company.

The dictionary defines a sociopath as one whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience. How else could you describe Heidi Diaz? While people posted about being nauseated, dizzy, having palpitations, losing their hair, and other physical maladies associated with anorexic behavior, she had a container of sugar cookies complete with sprinkles on the seat of her car. All the while, she was telling them to push through it, drive those calories lower, and don’t even think about eating that extra cup of salad greens. Do you think she felt guilty for one moment that people who took her advice were suffering while she sat on her ample rear end fat, happy, rich, and eating whatever she wanted? I, for one, do not. Even in her deposition for the lawsuit, knowing she’d been caught red-handed, she still defiantly saw her deception as a matter of semantics. One man’s need for privacy is another man’s fraud.

I contend her deception had nothing at all do to with privacy, and Heidi Diaz knows it. She lied to us because she knows no one wants to take dieting advice from a fat woman. She knows that if we had known she wasn’t the attractive 118 pound brunette she claimed to be, we wouldn't have been willing cough up so much as a penny to hear what she had to say. The only way to get the admiration she craved was to become what she wishes she were, but is not, and never has been. What is quite amazing is that she has people who continue to look to her for advice, knowing who and what she is. I’m at a total loss to comprehend why this is.

She asks the question “are you faux dieting?”. I ask the question why would you want to follow the advice of a faux diet guru? After all, that’s exactly what she is. A faux. A fake. A wannabe. Save your time, save your money, and save your hair. Find a free diet advice forum and get help from people who have really done it. A list is at the top of this page. Get a book written by someone who knows what they are talking about. There are lots of diet plans written by doctors, nurses, and nutritionists. Take the advice from someone who knows what they’re talking about. Stay away from Kimkins. Stay away from faux.

TGIF!

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:24:00 +0000

TGIF is a term all working folks are familiar with. Friday is known as the best day of the week, mainly because it heralds the weekend. However, on the Fascination with Kimmer threads, it has taken on a new meaning. Friday seems to be a day very popular with a group of people we call Five O’clock Charlies. They are known for their propensity to show up on Friday with admonitions about our behavior or our position on various topics. They were given the affectionate term Five O’clock Charlie from an episode of M*A*S*H in which a well-meaning North Korean flew past the compound on a regular schedule in an ill-maintained airplane lobbing bombs and missing the target.

They have a party line that has become so familiar it’s almost predictable; we have no case, we are mean spirited, we are wasting our time, we should let the court system decide, we are neglecting our families and other responsibilities…………… blah……..blah……blah…… It is starting to take on the persona of the teacher character on the Peanuts cartoons. You know, the one whose voice is the muted trumpet droning wah, wah, wah. It is very hard to take someone under your duck wing when in their introductory post, they tell us we are wrong on all points. It doesn’t endear them to us. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

The most recent dissenter to grace us with his presence is Sam Redman. He started with a garrulous post along the party line that in a bombastic manner referred to John Tiedt as an opportunistic lawyer and accused the ducks of being guilty of tortious interference. These are fighting words to be sure. Sam Redman doesn’t seem to recognize that a blog or bulletin board post is an opinion, nothing more, nothing less. One cannot be guilty of tortuous interference when they are posting an opinion. In his vast reading, Sam does not seem to have stumbled across the First Amendment to the Constitution. Sam Redman is an enigma to me. He came out swinging at the ducks, but then morphed into someone who seemingly agreed with us and was willing to be helpful. The jury is still out on whether or not he believes that Heidi Diaz is guilty of fraud. I don’t get him and not sure I want to put for the effort to try. All I can say is, thank God Sam Redman is not the judge of the case, although he seems to think he is.

Another poster who is a regular on the thread is known to us as Lola. She is our virtual mother, wagging her finger at us for perceived wrongdoings and admonishing us to get back on the straight and narrow path, one of her definition. She’s cornered the market on civil behavior and insists that we live up to her example of perfection. Surely we will continue to disappoint her and we’re doomed to repeat performances from her that will certainly remind us that she is the one who knows what’s right and we are naughty recalcitrants who need to hear her brand of morality. A legend in her own mind, surely she will save the world from the ducks and their nefarious behavior.

Honorable mention must be given to Crispy Bread. It is believed this poster is none other than Heidi herself. Her posts of late have cheered Sam Redman on. I can’t help but contemplate there may be a connection between the two. Crispy Bread’s latest appearance oddly enough was a Friday on which an important court decision was handed down. This court decision, in response to a motion by the Plaintiffs, ordered Heidi Diaz to hand over a plethora of documentation she has withheld, claiming confidentiality. Sorry Heidi, if that argument didn’t work for Richard Nixon, it’s not going to work for you.

The ducks have come to look forward to Friday, for we know not what it will bring, or should I say who it will bring. It may be a wannabe lawyer telling us we are wasting our time and have no case, or it may be our virtual mother giving us the temperance lecture about our actions, or it could be Heidi herself disguised under the crust of Crispy Bread. Whoever or whatever it brings, TGIF!

A Perfect Face for Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:19:00 +0000

People who know me well know that I had a 6 year career in the cutthroat world of L.A. radio. I still think I have a perfect face for radio. The medium of television is not kind to me. The photo in my profile of this blog was taken when I was 29 years old, much younger and much thinner. It makes me want to cry when I see how much I've changed, mainly from putting on weight.

In 2004-05, I lost 103 pounds on Atkins, going from 282 to 178.5. Then I hit a stall - one that lasted for five months. I took some bad advice from people who told me to increase my carb intake to shock my body into losing weight again. Big mistake. Adding back carbs awakened a monster that was better left sleeping. I quickly put 10 pounds back on, then another 10. I got scared and sought out something to get back on track. Unfortunately, I turned to Kimkins. It got the twenty pounds off me alright, but awakened an even greater and more insidious monster. Because I have an addictive personality, after a month on Kimkins the utter deprivation sent me reeling into a year-long rebellion against low carb eating. I lost my head. In so doing, I gained back all but 20 pounds of my hard-lost 103. I'm back on track now, but it will be a long time before I see that 178.5 again.

At the urging of other bloggers, I recently participated in the taping of a program Insider Exclusive along with John Tiedt, the attorney handling the lawsuit against Heidi Diaz. Also on the program are another attorney representing the plaintiffs and a cardiologist. It was quite an honor to appear with these distinguished gentlemen. To say that I am self-conscious about my current weight is an understatement. I hate having my picture taken, even on a good day. So why did I participate in this program, even with my inner demons screaming at me not to do it? I chose to fall on the sword of my pride in order to further the cause of taking Heidi Diaz down. So, as much as it pains me to see myself on camera, I don't regret doing it. Sometimes we have to stand up for a cause greater than ourselves.

To view the video in its entirety, please visit the Insider Exclusive website.

Magnetic Charisma

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 05:29:00 +0000

People who have never been under the influence of Heidi Diaz do not understand how so many smart people could have been duped. She possesses something I call magnetic charisma. It makes people hang onto every word, look up to her, and desire to please her. There are doctors, lawyers, chemists, PhD's, accountants, and scores other professionals in a long line of people with three digit IQ's who were taken in by Heidi Diaz. Rather than try to re-explain it, I will repost something I said in the Fascination With Kimmer thread #13 at Low Carb Friends. I was responding to a post of Barbara B's, and here are both posts in their entirety:

Originally Posted by Barbara B

OK. This is not a funny post. I still can't figure how adding more lettuce or a chicken wing can do your diet in. It is just CRAZY. How can anyone believe this shite?

I have to admit that I am beyond understanding how someone can take this kind of advice seriously! Can someone explain this to me? BTW, I am NOT downing anyone for following this advice. I know SHE is a lying liar that lies. It is NOT YOUR FAULT. I just can't fathom how she makes it so credible. She is a truly devious woman and that is why she has been able to HURT so many people. Please, folks, do NOT believe in her BS! She is NOT the answer. There are so many diets out there that are GOOD.

Buy a book! Atkins, Protein Power, South Beach Diet, whatever! The trick is to look at it as a WAY OF LIFE and NOT a diet. Because if you ever go back to eating the way you used to, you will gain it ALL back and more. You need to change your LIFE forever, and quick weight loss will NOT teach you how to do that. YOU WILL ONLY GAIN IT ALL BACK AND MORE!

And there are FREE websites that will help you do this. Come along to Low Carb Friends and see how many good people are there to cheer you on and give you ideas. Lowcarbfriends.com Low Carb Diet Support and Products!

Magicsmom replies:

There are so many factors to this. First of all, we really believed that Heidi had lost 200 pounds. We really believed she was gorgeous, and we really believed she knew what she was talking about. I think she capitalizes on our fast food mindset - the mindset that makes you want to use the microwave is the mindset that tells you it's better to lose your weight in 6 months than to take a year doing it. You beg her to review your Fitday to see if you're doing it right, and you really want to please her.

The brave ones ask her if it's o.k. to have hot wings. Heidi tells you in her condescending way that you can go ahead and eat those wings if you don't mind that it will take you longer to get to your goal. After all, they are just full of fat, and let's not even talk about the bleu cheese dressing you intend to dip them in. She has a power over people that is very hard to explain to people who have not experienced it. The last thing you want to hear is for her to say that you don't want it badly enough, because you know you do. When you stall, and we all do, you ask her to tell you what to do. Keep in mind that you really believe she already accomplished what you want to accomplish and you believe that if you follow her advice, you will have success. Her advice always is for you to cut your calories more; you're still eating too much, are you measuring that lettuce, are you sure it was only four ounces of steak, are you using your salad spritzer instead of that evil fatty bleu cheese dressing??? After all, this is THE woman talking to you, she has really DONE this thing, and this is what you want more than anything.

With perfect hindsight, we can look at this and see the absurdity of it. That's because NOW we know she didn't do it. I am sure she laughed the evil cackle when she berated people for not wanting it badly enough because they put butter on their broccoli and raked them over the coals for being weak as she brushed the sugar cookie sprinkles off her keyboard.

This is the reason that some of us are such zealots about exposing this woman and trying to take her down. We take it personally to know that during the suffering we endured, she was slamming down Cap'n and diet Coke, munching on sugar cookies and God only knows what else. I have said many times I think she's a cruel sadist, and I do.

The human condition

noreply@blogger.com (Magicsmom) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:45:00 +0000

What is it about betrayal that triggers such a visceral reaction in people? We desperately want to believe people and be believed by them because most people are basically honest. When a breach in that trust occurs, it turns the best of friends into fast enemies. Therein lies a problem with this new relationship aid we call the internet. Now it is possible for people who live thousands of miles apart to be extremely close friends, but what is crucial in the relationship is honesty, and it's all too easy to be something you are not. When we discover we have been lied to, we feel as if we were made a fool of. Now those on the outside would not see it that way. They see the liar in the situation to be the fool, but sometimes we can be too close to the forest and all we see is trees.

Heidi Diaz laid an intricate labyrinth of falsehoods about who she is and what she has accomplished. Her web of deceit was designed to make people admire her. It speaks volumes about her character, as well as the character of the trusting people she deceived. After all, here was this amazing person who had lost 198 pounds in 11 months, and she kept it off for five years. That alone made her an icon in the internet world of dieters. But wait! There’s more! Not only was she accomplished in weight loss, this wonderful woman actually took time from her personal life to be a foster parent, and not to just any kids. This woman was a foster mom to teenage boys. Even when they’re your own, teenage boys can be a handful, but this Wonder Woman had a house full of them and all but one weren’t hers. What a saint she was! But wait! There’s more! In addition to devoting tireless hours on the computer giving diet advice, taking care of her own son and the sons of others, she was a Court Appointed Special Advocate, hereafter referred to as C.A.S.A. Really, did this woman ever get any sleep?

All of this was the house of cards known as the lies of Heidi Diaz. She created a persona designed for worship. She was so desperate to be looked up to that she perhaps made herself to be the things she admires, and I believe that admiration was her original motivation. The fortune that followed was icing on the low-carb cake. Nobody really knows for sure, because Heidi Diaz is one of those unknowable people. After learning of her lies and deceit, one has to ask if anything she ever told us was true. Did we really know anything about her at all? As in most scams, the story of Heidi Diaz is the skin of the truth stuffed with lies.

She told us she lived in Southern California, was in her forties, and was a divorcee with a teenage son. That was the skin of the truth. All the rest were lies. Maybe at one time she was a foster parent, but not any more. Maybe at one time she was a C.A.S.A., but that was a lie too. And let’s not forget, she didn’t lose 198 pounds. In fact, there’s no proof that she’s ever lost any weight at all.

The lies she told about her personal life paled in comparison to the lies Kimkins.com was built upon. At one time, the site was teeming with false testimonials and false photographs to go along with them. She has a penchant for using the names and faces of other people without their permission. Going by at least 6 different aliases, she built her empire and basked in the glow of the admiration that poured from those she was deceiving. Perhaps the biggest and boldest lie was using the photo of an attractive brunette in a red dress who was clearly 20 years Heidi’s junior. That was when the red flag went up for me. I’d seen pictures of people that were believable as Heidi Diaz, but not this one. I knew that I knew that I knew the woman in the red dress was not “Kimmer”. I believe the red dress photo was the light bulb moment for a lot of people.

Once the investigation of Kimmer began, it was like a snowball down a mountainside. As more lies became illuminated by the light of truth, the snowball grew more ominous on the horizon of Heidi Diaz’ world. It was then that she told perhaps her biggest lie. She was stepping down as owner of Kimkins.com. For public consumption, she turned the reins over to Jeannie Baitinger, her P.R. director, claiming she was available as a consultant only. It was a diversionary tactic designed to confuse and distract while she spirited her fortune away to conceal it from the long arm of the law. She created companies, LLC’s, trust funds, purchased property, and attempted to make nice with the IRS. It was all too little, and too late.

All of these lies were uncovered by the tenacious group of people known as ducks, and it was Heidi’s worst nightmare. Such is the visceral reaction we humans have when we know we have been betrayed. Although they may have never been friends, her betrayal has turned Heidi Diaz into the enemy of many. Through the medium of the internet, Heidi Diaz pretended to be the friend we could all look up to. She accepted our admiration under false pretenses and we are angry about being betrayed. We will not give up until a judgment has been won against her. Then we will continue to keep the pressure on the authorities to prosecute her for fraud. Heidi Diaz must surely wish she had never perpetrated this betrayal, for it has been her downfall.