As I’ve said before, with desperate times, come desperate measures. However, in the case of your health it is always best to lead with your head rather than your heart.
Take the scam that is kimkins, for example. A soulless huckster named Heidi Diaz (a.k.a. Kimmer) used a low carb weight loss forum, Woman’s World magazine, and eventually her for-a-fee forum to hock extremely unsafe, very low carb, very low calorie diet advice to the unsuspecting and desperate. In fact, she preyed on the desperate with claims of “better than gastric by-pass” and “I lost 198 pounds in 11 months.”
Turns out she lied about pretty much everything – her weight loss “success,” her before and after pictures, her name, and the list goes on.
“But Bufo Dieter,” you may be saying “caveat emptor!” And I’d say, you’re right. But ask yourself this: Have you ever bought something just because you wanted it and it turned out to be not as extraordinary as you thought it would be? Or have you ever tried a diet because you were at-the-end-of-your-frayed-rope-desperate to get the weight off that you’ve been dealing with on and off for most of your life? I know I have – on both accounts. So I can see how a person could get sucked into the scam. As a matter of fact, I did, for 2 weeks. Luckily I didn’t pay for her diet. I found it for free online. But I kept reading and discovered layer upon layer of her fraud being exposed, and continues to be exposed.
As a matter of fact, there is a lawsuit in the works that could (and I believe should) end up having Heidi pay back all of the +/- $2M she scammed through this crazy diet.
So, my point behind this – research, research, research! Be sure what you’re getting ready to plunk down your credit card for and spend your hard-earned money on is worth it’s weight (and can’t be gotten for free elsewhere!). The internet is ripe with scam artists ready to prey on the foolish or the desperate. Be careful out there!
Bottom line: if promises seem too good to be true, they probably are.
To read more about the debacle that is kimkins check out the links in my blogroll. And if you have been scammed by the she-devil in red, be sure to join the lawsuit!
You Betcha!!!
However, at the time I joined the Kimpound, I think I did google Kimkins. There was few links back and they were positive. I actually joined based on the recommendation of another well known LC spokesperson. So still…do your research. (I wasn’t aware of the LCF threads at the time)
Comment by wackytobeme — December 30, 2007 @ 12:33 am
Good point, I hope everyone searches the internet and does their homework in 2008 before falling for a scam of a diet like Kimkins!!
Comment by katinsac — December 30, 2007 @ 3:30 am
Thanks for stopping by, Ducks! (Man, WildAngel is quick with the links!)… (yes I’m a big FWK lurker)
I know what you mean, Wacky, about the lack of links for Kimkins last summer, but thankfully, there is now a TON of information out there about why this is NOT a wise choice for dieting.
Comment by bufodieter — December 31, 2007 @ 8:24 pm
thanks for posting about the scam being run on Kimkins.com by Kimmer
Comment by 2big4mysize — January 9, 2008 @ 6:05 am