A couple of months ago, I heard about the Kimkins Diet.  I had never heard of it before, but a friend said she was trying it and it was just “low carb.”  I didn’t think much of it - I mean Atkins and South Beach are low carb, have been around forever, and people have had pretty good success with them (although I think Atkins calls for too few carbs at first).  So I thought Kimkins was just another variation of a low carb diet.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  Wrong! 

I started looking around the Low Carb Friends Forum because there is a folder there dedicated just to Kimkins dieters.  I was not prepared for what I saw.  This “diet” calls for eating anywhere around 500 to 800 calories a day, sometimes going as low as 300 a day.  Dieters eat mostly meats and eggs.  It’s their choice if they want to eat veggies, but their carbs cannot be over 20 grams per day.  Fruits, milk, and nuts are not allowed.  

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Kimmer (the creator of Kimkins) promotes using laxatives on a daily basis.  I mean think about it - if all someone is eating is pretty much meat and eggs, where are they getting their fiber?  ”Things” are going to stop moving and constipation will occur.  So Kimkins calls for the use of laxatives to keep things moving along.  (Overuse would probably be a better term to describe it) I think the saddest thing for me was reading posts at the Low Carb Friends Forum.  These folks were having bad side effects from this diet (dizziness, fatigue, nausea, hair loss), yet because they were losing weight and being told they were in ketosis (the ultimate goal of a Kimkins dieter), they kept right on going with it.  One woman I read about was afraid to eat lettuce!  I had to wonder if some of these women were starting to develop an eating disorder.  It angers me to think that someone such as Kimmer preys on people’s desperation to lose weight and will literally hurt someone to make a buck. 

The good news is there are professionals speaking out against Kimkins.  I happened upon an article last night written by Laura Dolson at About.com.  She is the Guide of the Low Carb Diets section at About.com and she knows her stuff.  To get the low down on Kimkins, check out Laura’s article. 

I’ve also found some other interesting blog posts about Kimkins:

Kimkins Controversy  

Jimmy Moore Interview with Kimmer 

Diet Review: Kimkins Diet

I’ll add more as I find them.