John Tiedt’s Statement on Kimkins verdict

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

Insider Exclusive–Kimkins Diet Scam

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Headline Legal News – Kimkins Diet Scam

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Transcript

Steve Murphy interviews Attorneys John Tiedt and Michael Cohen; Dr. Americo Simonini; and former Kimkins member, Terry Lind, about the Kimkins Diet Scam.

For those who are unable to view the videos, you can now read the Transcript of the show graciously provided by Elle.

Steve Murphy

Steve Murphy is the exclusive Senior Producer of Sky Radio Network’s worldwide business and legal shows, which are broadcast 24/7 on over 85,000 monthly flights to over 22 million listeners worldwide reporting the news, breaking headlines, legal developments, captured from his distinguished legal and business guests. Steve is also the President of PRI Inc, and also represents leading law firms and major fortune 500 companies in developing strategic business plans and the recruitment of key business and legal executives.

Steve has written over 20 books and numerous magazine and news articles on a diversity of subjects ranging from International Trade to Banking, Commercial Real Estate, general business books, and many more.

A SHORT SEGMENT FROM YOUTUBE

Web of Lies and Deceit

I’m sure by now everyone has read the latest update of the Kimkins Class Action Lawsuit. While I was not really surprised about much of the info revealed, it still gets to me the extent of Heidi’s deceit. As so many of the posters on LCF are apt to say–she has a huge set.

Heidi you can never hide from the TRUTH……

A fraudulent intent, however carefully concealed at the outset, will generally, in the end, betray itself.

—Titus Livius (Livy) (59 B.C.–A.D. 17), Roman historian. Histories, XLIV, 15.

The Ducks will continue to expose you no matter how long it takes….

I love a good mystery….

It all started with a drive by trolling at LCF, with many of the posts deleted too. Then it went to a very odd cryptic blog, that eventually went poof, not before screen shots were done. there have been so many twists and turns here…you have to read it all for yourself….

• Prudentia: Stop the Fratricide! A Case of Friendly Fire …
  No Apology for the Trolls! « MJR’s-Duck Squad
• revealed!!!!!!!! Martina’s true identity!!!!!! « a fake blog about a real scam
• Prudentia: May Martina’s Martini Rest in Peace
• po sledam Martina’s Martini « a fake blog about a real scam
• Prudentia: Double-Minded …
• Prudentia: Was I Duped?
• Oh Heidi, What a tangled web we weave « MJR’s-Duck Squad
• Conquering demons, losing weight: Tsk, tsk, Heidi! Is THAT the best you’ve got?

you have got to read all the comments to follow along with this saga…..

Oh, but it’s the member’s fault….

One of the biggest arguments Kimkins supporters have to date is blaming the members for their own health problems. consistently saying they were cutting the calories on their own. They should have known better.

Here are the exact words SingingLass had to say on the Good Morning America show:

DELANEY DEAVER (aka SingingLass): We don’t tell people to starve, we encourage them to eat and I think there’s gonna be eating disorders that happen, you know, in any situation when somebody has an issue with food, but we try to prevent that from happening by giving people support.

and then we have a (:cough: sock puppet :cough:) member stating here:

People who have failed and have taken the diet to the extreme (eating less than 1000 calories a day…duh? commom sense?) are the main anti-kimkims supporters.

and the same “member” quoted here:

It is not the diet that made some people sick…it was their own fault for taking the diet to the extreme. I am sad that they say they got sick because of Kimkins. If they did not check with their doctor either before starting the diet or shortly after losing some weight, and discussing with their doctor, it is their own fault for getting sick.

These are just the most recent examples of blaming the members for cutting their own calories. Yet look what was posted on the FWK thread just last night by HoneyBee:

Kimkins- member asks for a review of their menu

…..I usually eat the following, but the weightloss is between 0-1lbs off per week!
B- (IF i have breakfast) Bacon or whey shake
L- leftover meat from the evening before (pork, beef, chicken) with a stick of celery, and 1 tbs mayo OR whey shake
D- Meat with salad or green veg.
Water, 1 coffee, multivitamin, detox tea (3 times per week)
IF i have a snack, it is a boiled egg or slice of meat or SF Jello or 10 almonds (no more than once per week)

‘Plumbing’ is all good- I am doing gentle exercise (I’m no gym bunny!)-I’m not deluding myself and ‘forgetting’ some things that go in my mouth, i keep a diary of everything that passing my lips.
Thanks for listening

Heidi responds

Hey girl!

First of all, look at your “before” and “current” pics and you’re a totally different person! You’ve done an awesome job!!! Everything looks good in your sample menu, but if you want to tweak a bit here’s what I’d suggest:

1) Skip pork & beef for now, stick with skinless chicken, turkey, fish, tuna
2) Be sure to use low cal low carb salad dressing
3) If your detox tea contains senna (Smooth Move) that’s a laxative so consult your doctor
4) 1 large egg, 1 string cheese, 10 almonds are 80-100 calories each and can add up
5) What about adding 1-2 servings of List 1 veggies in place of 80-100 snacks?

You’ve lost 56 pounds! The closer you get to goal, the slower loss goes because your smaller body naturally needs and burns fewer calories to maintain that smaller weight.

Don’t give up! You’re soooooo close, you’ll make it. Stay tough & focused

SingingLass responds

The things thats stuck out to me were the bacon, beef, almonds, and possibly the whey shakes.

Bacon and beef can be higher in fat….typically just like lean steak now and then. Almonds really are not on the plan while in losing phase, and people report all the time about getting stalled up when the grab for nuts. Perfectly great for maintaining though. I would say maybe cut out the whey shakes for a little while just to see if you notice a difference, it is one of those things that some people are fine with but others can stall a bit, also depending on the shake.

What are you putting in your coffee?

BTW—you look great! You also have such cute clothes, where do you shop?

Even an imbecile can see this member is not taking in that many calories to begin with. Yet Heidi and SingingLass are quick to tell her to cut out even more.

But, oh, it’s the member’s fault for cutting calories to the bare minimum….

The Latest on the Idiotic Pinky Swear Challenge

The official results from week 2 of the idiotic Pinky Swear Challenge……drum roll pleeezzzz……191.4 pounds!!!

Bringing the total loss for just 2 weeks (halfway through the challenge) to:

434.7 pounds!!!

WOWZA!!! That’s impressive huh…..

Or is it????

:calculator in hand:

They have 130 people signed up for this idiotic challenge.

We know Heidi is not losing…so dividing this weeks loss by 129 gives us an average of 1.5 lbs/person. For the 2 weeks, they are averaging 3.4lbs/person.

Super fast weight loss there y’all…..

Heidi said she is “surprised” at the weight loss. But she “knows” Kimkins works. Yeah, starvation DOES have a tendency to make you lose weight….

BUT…….

Cleochatra is losing faster than that and she EATS!!!

Heidi Diaz AKA “Kimmer” Could Learn From These Ladies and Gents

In a earlier post here I wrote how Heidi has an affinity for targeting teens. Not only does she prey on the insecurities of todays teens, the need to conform to media standards of beauty, she COUNTS ON IT to line her pockets. As well as those same thoughts from adults too.

Remember how Heidi responded to a 14 year old girl on her forum? This young girl was participating in the boot camp program at Kimkins, consuming only 500 cals/day and exercising for 30 minutes.

Mo Pie, one of the many “Health at Any Size” bloggers out there, received a letter from a 14 year old girl. Here is a small portion of that letter:

“The Beautiful People Are The Skinny People”

Is this just a “fourteen year old phase”?
What’ll it take for me to love my reflection?
‘Cause everytime I say to myself “You’re beautiful” it feels like a lie…

How do you do it? How can you just totally accept yourself exactly the way you are! What your secret? Will you share it with me?

So far there have been 67 replies to this post. Here are just a few of the responses:

occhiblu:

Your body is how your mind accomplishes its work in the world; it’s what lets you do and be and act. We tell women that their bodies need to look a certain way, but if we all looked the same, we’d all be do-ing and be-ing and act-ing the same, and that’s not what this world needs. It needs all our individual bodies, and all our individual talents, and all our individual limitations in order to create the diversity of experiences that exist. If everyone were the same, even if everyone were perfect, the world would, frankly, suck.

Look at your body and love your body not for what it looks like to others, but for what it does for you. Find the parts of it you like, the parts of it that are strong or flexible or hard or soft in just the right ways, and concentrate on those for a while. Maybe you can’t hear “You are beautiful” yet (though you are), but try “I am strong” or “I am fearless” or “I am flexible” or “I am solid” or “I am energetic.”

Say good things about yourself long enough, and even you will come to believe them. (Remember that it works the other way, too, and stop yourself from saying negative things about your body, even in your head.)

JoGeek:

All the tips and tricks and affirmations in the world won’t force a change in an unwilling mind, but you have to find whatever it is inside you that makes it true for you. A lot of that comes through doing whatever it is that you are uniquely good at, because the satisfaction of creating or performing something great drowns out a helluva lot of self-loathing cynicism. It can be anything; art, sports, music, theater, writing, gardening, martial arts, photography, crafts, etc. etc. etc.

Do something physical. I agree about the Yoga since it challenges you, you can work up to it gradually at your own pace, it helps your balance and posture, and it makes you really aware of your body and what it can accomplish.

Then, surround yourself with good people. Friends are not really friends if they tear you down or make you feel ashamed of any part of yourself, physical or personal. A friend is someone you should be able to trust. A couple of true friends is worth more than a houseful of “associates” that stress you out.

Skinny people hate their bodies too. The “beautiful people” often see just as much to hate about their bodies as everyone else. That doesn’t help or comfort much, but it’s a perspective to hold onto so that you’re not placing anyone on a pedestal. Choose your heros by what they do and who they are, not by what they look like.

BigLiberty:

Sweetie, you ARE beautiful.

Is it your fault that our culture worships at the altar of “thin”? No.

Many other cultures have different ideas of beauty, and even our own culture has had, historically, different ideas of beauty.

But I don’t really think you believe that weight loss equals automatic beauty. I bet you know a lot of girls who are skinny but aren’t very beautiful inside, right? They might fool people with the outside for a while, but it’s funny: usually what someone is on the inside pushes out through her, and shines on the outside.

I bet you’re nice, and even if some people are mean to you they know, deep down, you’re nice, and talented. High school is hard. People are finding themselves, creating the adults they will soon be. Some people need to feel like they’re superior to other people, so they read magazines, watch TV, and get an idea of what our culture thinks is superior. Right now the culture says that skinny is superior to fat.

But is it true? Fat doesn’t make you bad. Fat doesn’t make you lazy, or ugly, or stupid, or untalented, or undisciplined. It’s just biological tissue, it can’t make you BE anything!

Sweetie, you have to understand that although a majority of people believes a thing, that doesn’t make it true. At one point in history, the majority of people thought the Earth was flat and the Sun orbited the Earth. Well, science was discovered that told them that wasn’t true. And science has been discovered, and more is being found out every day, that shows that fat doesn’t make you unhealthy, or stupid, or lazy, or ugly.

It will take some time for the culture to catch up, but they will. What can you do in the meantime? Stand up for yourself. Don’t let the haters treat you like you’re worthless, because they’re ignorant. Don’t let yourself be discriminated against without a fight. If the boy you like doesn’t like you because he thinks fat is ugly, then you know what? HE’s the ugly one. Keep your dignity in the face of adversity, like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did.

Keep that dignity, knowing that you’re right, and believe you’re beautiful, and attractive, and never, ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

Shapely Prose even posted about it.

There is a happy ending to this story, the 14 year old girl responds back.

Heidi, since I know you read here, this is how you respond to a 14 year old girl struggling with her body image issues. NOT encourage her to keep starving herself.

I wonder what these wonderful people would have to say to Heidi Diaz…….hmmmmm

Heidi’s Spin on Things

Heidi once again throws her “spin” to make things look better than they really are.

Her latest is that idiotic juvenile Pinky Swear Challenge. She is trumpeting the fact that this week’s weigh-in has resulted in well over 200lbs lost in the challenge. Sounds real impressive on the surface doesn’t it.

Do a little math though and it averages out to be a little over 3 lbs a person. Big whoop de friggin doo. The average Atkins dieter can do that each and every week and they actually get to eat.

Plus when the person following Atkins hits maintenance, there’s actually a program in place.

Anyone can starve and lose weight. The key to being a success at any weight loss effort is maintaining it. With Kimkins, it ain’t gonna happen. The minute you put any real food in your mouth—boom pounds pop on. Plus they bring lots of friends with them. It’s the way the human body is designed for survival.

She’s a manipulator plain an simple. Don’t fall for it.

Kimkins–Targeting Teens

One of my problems with Heidi has been her promotion of Kimkins through viral marketing. Most importantly is the fact she has targeted teens in her pursuit to have members.

For those who have followed this saga from the beginning, you remember the 14 year old who was on the Kimkins site looking for answers. Here are the posts as a reminder for everyone.

• Kimkins Cheers Child Dieting on Site « Kimkins Exposed
• 14 Year Old Begs Kimmer for Help « Kimkins Exposed
• Child Still Cheered Along on Kimkins « Kimkins Exposed
• Kimmer Encourages Child to Continue On! « Kimkins Exposed
• One Week, One Day, Teen Advised to go to Mother & Doctor « Kimkins Exposed
• Kimkins Members Attack Child on Kimkins Forum « Kimkins Exposed

The thing about all of this that disturbs me the most, was Heidi’s reply to this young girl. All of it disturbs me really. But Heidi’s stands out.

Kimmer (Admin)

Re:I need more calories

I agree with all the replies above, except about needing more calories simply because of your age. A calorie is a unit of energy, that’s all. If we eat too much energy, it’s stored as fat — whether you’re 14 or 84. If you have excess body fat, you have CALORIES hanging there, again whether you’re 14 or 84.

However, if you want to up your calories, simply add more food. You’re a teenager, so a couple servings of dairy are important (or use supplements with your doctor’s advice). String cheese, Dannon low carb yogurt, broccoli, kale, cottage cheese are good sources of calcium and will give you extra calories.

If your goal is to only add more calories, drink 1-2 meal replacement shakes in addition to your food choices. It’s easy to add calories if that’s your goal.

I disagree about adding fruit until you’re at maintenance. There’s little there nutritionally compared to the high carbs. Nothing that can’t wait a bit until you hit goal. You’re much better off with a 1/2 cup of sweet potato than an apple, as an example. More fiber, more antioxidants. And …

But if you’re listening to “other sources”, think logically and think about hidden agendas.

As a reminder, this 14 year old girl was following the boot camp program, 500 cals/day and 30 minutes of exercise. Yet Heidi did not say anything about her needing to up her calories.

In her efforts to target teens, Heidi planted stories about stars who were supposedly following Kimkins. These showed up on MySpace and Yahoo Answers, to name a few.

With so many of the former Kimkins members speaking of having eating disordered thinking. It worries me to see Heidi go specifically after teens. They are already very vulnerable to developing an eating disorder. The Kimkins diet severely increases your chance of developing an eating disorder.

As I’ve stated before, Kimkins is not better than being fat.

The Kimkins site is suppose to have an age restriction now. Other changes have been implemented to make the site more generic. Less cause for possible litigation.

In my opinion, all the changes at the site are much too little, done way too late. Or as we say here in the south, it’s like closing the barn door after the horse has got out.

Kimkins Diet–Is It Better Than Being Fat?

One of the biggest arguments Heidi had for following her diet was it was better than being fat. Here’s some of her ideals.

She employs fear, an emotion which can lead to decisions because one fears the unknown that the future holds. As someone listening who is overweight or obese, it’s easy to fall into the trap and set your emotions on overdrive to worry you too may get diabetes, heart disease, or have your arms or legs amputated if you don’t lose weight, fast. With your heart pounding, you think, because it’s now been suggested, that if you do not do something extreme and drastic, you might be too sick tomorrow to do something. You better start today. Tomorrow is too uncertain.She knows this type of fear mongering works. She previously used it when she actively posted on LowCarbFriends.com. One only need look at the thread titled ‘Ask Kimmer’ to really see her in action. Her proverbial paper trail is long and provides a glimpse into her techniques to motivate with fear, loathing any dissent, disdain for any questioning of her advice.

It’s apparent she has one goal, to convince you to starve yourself on a very low calorie diet (vLCD) so that she can continue to promote, loudly, that the diet works and weight loss is fast. That is nothing special, anyone who seeks out the data on very low calorie diets and reads through the findings knows that very low calorie diets make you lose weight, but with a price.

The media’s constant portrayal of the obesity epidemic is one thing that drives people to lose weight. Although the obesity paradox shows a different story. That being overweight is actually healthy for you.

Then you have the whole prejudice against being fat going on. Overweight people do not have it easy. They are discriminated against in the work force. Being thin generates more financial freedom, more independence, a more active social life, a better job.

Which leads people to be desperate to become thin at any cost. Which leads them to Kimkins regardless of the dangers or the controversy. Their mantra is always, “but it works”. Yeah, VLCDs work, but at what cost to your health.

So in answer to the question of this post, that’s a big…..fat…..NO

As long as Kimkins is still up and running. I will work with the other duck detectives to put a stop to Kimkins. I will not quit until I see….

The Kimkins Debate

For months we have watched this saga unfold. Although it really all began many years ago. These last months have proved to be trying for many people. Now Heidi is spouting off about how the freezing of her assets is making a hardship on her and Kimkins. All I can say is yipee. Maybe this will finally make her close up shop and move on.

The VLCD pushed by Heidi and her band of minions is dangerous. What you eat when you are on Kimkins, causes undue amount of terrible side effects. Why do you want to do that to yourself, just to be thin? Is it an eating disorder or a diet?

We need to take down Kimkins NOW.

I will not quit….

I had some interesting comments on the post from yesterday.

First we have Dana :

She most certainly did tell her to eat, just not on the site because of people like you , who take things out of context and post on blogs…….HATERS…….just unreal, leave us alone please.

Dana

Followed by AvenueGirl:

Dana, if she told her to eat on the site then we wouldn’t have anything negative to discuss here. It is near impossible to see all the harm being done here when you are under Heidi’s trance.

We are not haters, we are normal people like you, some of which used to follow the plan, lost weight, but now suffer the consequences.

You think you’re getting ahead, but really the time in there will eventually set you back even further.

We choose not to leave you alone because we care. WE don’t get any financial support for what we are doing here. We do it because we care about people like you.

We offer support that is from our hearts.

It’s people like us that have learned from the experience and freely share what we have learned.

It’s the things that are not said that are the things to worry about. What you don’t know can hurt you.

Last comes Watcher:

So Dana, are you privy to pm’s between Heidi and Jane Doe? How do you know she told her to eat, if Heidi didn’t make it public? We have only the desperate pleadings of Jane as recently as last week. Where did you get your info from?

Dana, have you taken a look at Jane Doe’s journal entries?

An entry was sent to me last night. I will not post it in it’s entirety. But I do want to post one small section.

“I am going to do protein shakes, chicken broth and diet drinks for the next five days…Kimmer thinks it might get things moving on the scale.”

Did you get that Dana?

Heidi is telling her to drink protein shakes, chicken broth, and diet drinks.

Do you know what that is doing to her body? The body is starving. It will feed off the muscles.

The heart is a muscle.

Jane Doe is a prime candidate for sudden death from her diet and exercise.

So the answer is NO.

I will not quit.

UPDATE:
AvenueGirl responds to Dana in more detail on her blog. Here is just a small excerpt from her post, Am I Off Topic Here?

I’m not going to lie to you Dana. I did not get it at first. I didn’t understand what the big deal was. I felt I wanted to be in charge, and make my own decisions. I didn’t need these crazy “haters” raining on my parade. So I entered the fascination thread to give them my two cents.

I took the time to stop and listen to their responses to me too. I wanted to understand why they were so intent on carrying on. It wasn’t just one or two looneys putting up a stink. Their number was probably somewhere in the hundreds.

Their compassion for others became clearly apparent to me within the writing of just a few posts. They had nothing to “sell” me. There was nothing in it for them. I was just an intruder. Yet, they took the time to listen to me, and treated me fairly.

Now I have joined the “haters” for better or worse. I understand their mission, and I believe the cause is beyond worthy.

Very well said. The cause is beyond worthy.

We Ain’t Done Yet