TIPPING THE SCALES TO HEALTH

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• Long-Term Diet Study Suggests Success Is Hard to Come By
• Diet Plans Produce Similar Results
• The Never-Ending Diet Wars
• Diet Debate: 3 Top Plans Go Toe to Toe
• Study: Low-carb diet best for weight, cholesterol
• Low Carb Just as Good as Low Fat Diet
• Low fat diets ‘not as effective for weight loss’
• Low-Carb and Mediterranean Diets May Equal Watching Fat Intake
• Healthy Fats May Increase Weight Loss
• Low-carb, Mediterranean diets said to work
• Unrestricted Low-Carb Diet Wins Hands Down
• Best diet depends on desired reults
• Similar weight loss on 3 different, popular diets
• Med diets ‘as effective’ as low-fat diets
• Diet Experiment Shows Dieting Not So Easy
• Healthy Diets Have Advantages Despite Insignificant Weight Loss

If I hadn’t seen it, I would not have believed that all these headlines refer to the same study!

So what did the study accomplish? The weight loss was not significant over the two years the study covered so it’s not much of an inspiration to someone that has a lot of pounds to shed.

The “low calorie” groups (Mediterranean and low fat) were allowed 1500 (women) and 1800 (men) calories. This was not a starvation experiment. The low carb group had no calorie restriction.

The resulting weight loss was highest for the low carb group, but still modest (14 pounds after two years). To me this is not surprising as:

The low-carbohydrate, non–restricted-calorie diet aimed to provide 20 g of carbohydrates per day for the 2-month induction phase, with a gradual increase to a maximum of 120 g per day to maintain the weight loss.

Apparently, the intent was to maintain rather than lose more weight as 120 grams of carbohydrates is too high for most people for weight loss.

While this study may be helpful in improving the status of low carb diets, it will take a long time before the “experts” will stop pushing for “low fat/healthy grain/saturated fat is bad for you” diets.

Read it and see if it isn’t a description of Kimmer. I think so.

The Cult of the Narcissist
By Sam Vaknin
Author of “Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited”

The narcissist is the guru at the center of a cult. Like other gurus, she demands complete obedience from her flock: her spouse, her offspring, other family members, friends, and colleagues. She feels entitled to adulation and special treatment by her followers. She punishes the wayward and the straying lambs. She enforces discipline, adherence to her teachings, and common goals. The less accomplished she is in reality – the more stringent her mastery and the more pervasive the brainwashing.

The – often involuntary – members of the narcissist’s mini-cult inhabit a twilight zone of her own construction. She imposes on them a shared psychosis, replete with persecutory delusions, “enemies”, mythical narratives, and apocalyptic scenarios if she is flouted.

The narcissist’s control is based on ambiguity, unpredictability, fuzziness, and ambient abuse. Her ever-shifting whims exclusively define right versus wrong, desirable and unwanted, what is to be pursued and what to be avoided. She alone determines the rights and obligations of her disciples and alters them at will.

The narcissist is a micro-manager. She exerts control over the minutest details and behaviors. She punishes severely and abuses withholders of information and those who fail to conform to her wishes and goals.

The narcissist does not respect the boundaries and privacy of her reluctant adherents. She ignores their wishes and treats them as objects or instruments of gratification. She seeks to control both situations and people compulsively.

She strongly disapproves of others’ personal autonomy and independence. Even innocuous activities, such as meeting a friend or visiting one’s family require her permission. Gradually, she isolates her nearest and dearest until they are fully dependent on her emotionally, sexually, financially, and socially.

She acts in a patronizing and condescending manner and criticizes often. She alternates between emphasizing the minutest faults (devalues) and exaggerating the talents, traits, and skills (idealizes) of the members of her cult. She is wildly unrealistic in her expectations – which legitimizes her subsequent abusive conduct.

The narcissist claims to be infallible, superior, talented, skillful, omnipotent, and omniscient. She often lies and confabulates to support these unfounded claims. Within her cult, she expects awe, admiration, adulation, and constant attention commensurate with her outlandish stories and assertions. She reinterprets reality to fit her fantasies.

Her thinking is dogmatic, rigid, and doctrinaire. She does not countenance free thought, pluralism, or free speech and doesn’t brook criticism and disagreement. She demands – and often gets – complete trust and the relegation to her capable hands of all decision-making.

She forces the participants in her cult to be hostile to critics, the authorities, institutions, her personal enemies, or the media – if they try to uncover her actions and reveal the truth. She closely monitors and censors information from the outside, exposing her captive audience only to selective data and analysis.

The narcissist’s cult is “missionary” and “imperialistic”. She is always on the lookout for new recruits – her spouse’s friends, her daughter’s girlfriends, her neighbors, new colleagues at work. She immediately attempts to “convert” them to her “creed” – to convince them how wonderful and admirable she is. In other words, she tries to render them Sources of Narcissistic Supply.

Often, her behavior on these “recruiting missions” is different to her conduct within the “cult”. In the first phases of wooing new admirers and proselytizing to potential “conscripts” – the narcissist is attentive, compassionate, empathic, flexible, self-effacing, and helpful. At home, among the “veterans” she is tyrannical, demanding, willful, opinionated, aggressive, and exploitative.

As the leader of her congregation, the narcissist feels entitled to special amenities and benefits not accorded the “rank and file”. She expects to be waited on hand and foot, to make free use of everyone’s money and dispose of their assets liberally, and to be cynically exempt from the rules that she herself established (if such violation is pleasurable or gainful).

In extreme cases, the narcissist feels above the law – any kind of law. This grandiose and haughty conviction leads to criminal acts, incestuous or polygamous relationships, and recurrent friction with the authorities.

Hence the narcissist’s panicky and sometimes violent reactions to “dropouts” from her cult. There’s a lot going on that the narcissist wants kept under wraps. Moreover, the narcissist stabilizes her fluctuating sense of self-worth by deriving Narcissistic Supply from her victims. Abandonment threatens the narcissist’s precariously balanced personality.

Add to that the narcissist’s paranoid and schizoid tendencies, her lack of introspective self-awareness, and her stunted sense of humor (lack of self-deprecation) and the risks to the grudging members of her cult are clear.

The narcissist sees enemies and conspiracies everywhere. She often casts herself as the heroic victim (martyr) of dark and stupendous forces. In every deviation from her tenets she espies malevolent and ominous subversion. She, therefore, is bent on dis-empowering her devotees. By any and all means.

The narcissist is dangerous.

Emphasis mine, and the changes from he/his to she/hers.

How can we recognize a cult?

A fair use of the cult label for a questionable organization would require the presence of most of the items on the following checklist.

Does the group:

• engage in deceptive recruitment practices?
• tend to target vulnerable individuals?
• offer unconditional affirmation and support initially, but soon make its continuance contingent on obedience?
• have a closed social system that makes a special effort to isolate acolytes from family, friends, etc.?
• use constant bombardment with pro-group and pro-leader messages and exclusion of other messages?
• have a rigid, authoritarian hierarchy?
• have a leader and ruling clique that are perceived to possess infallible insight, supernatural powers, etc.?
• have an eclectic, often muddled and internally contradictory, set of teachings – usually a magic-laden philosophy that claims to have infallible answers to those “big ticket” questions of existence?
• have a strict behavior code that governs all aspects of how one should think, feel, and act?
• instill fear of outsiders (the “bunker mentality”)? Does the group try to convince members they are powerless to act without the group’s support and that the world “out there” is uncaring and hostile?

A post yesterday by the Kimkins poster girl Singing Lass reinforces the image of a cult. The post was made in response to emails that concerned people had sent to a Kimkins dieter with a heart condition.

“I am so proud of you—you are such a beautiful and strong person, and are inspiring so many people because of it. I know right now is a difficult time to step outside the ‘safety walls” of the inner site and proclaim yourself with the plan, and it just reflects all the more on your courage and spirit—and the desire to help others who feel hopeless or overwhelmed with their need for weight loss by sharing your personal story and journey.

As for the “others”. What they do is the complete opposite—playground bully tactics of harassment and threats. It is obsessive and juvenile, and perhaps they should look to their own selves and lives for things to “fix” before trying to condem and force themselves and their opinions on others. We are adults, we should have the right to make our own choices, especially in regard to OUR own bodies … they have no right to tell others what to do. Some of them lost weight on this plan, then after the fact joined the hate party, many never did the diet at all ….. and many more are stuck with weight issues, unable to stick to diets of their own, or reporting having gone to surgical means and having resulting infections and problems ….. while here you are, beautiful, losing, getting on your feet with your heart health etc … You have every right to hold your head up and be proud for who you are and what you have accomplished.

I had my share of the bully tactics and harassment. I guess, I realized to give in, to step down like they wanted me to …. would have been condoning their tactics and would have made them the”winners”. People who harass, threaten, say mean things/ make fun of people should not be given any satisfaction or justifcation for the tactics they employ. I think the real test is being strong, sticking to what you feel is right for you and what makes you feel good, and not letting obsessed people change that, or take it away from you. The real people who care about you are here … the ones that have be-friended you without any motives, who show genuine concern and caring …. not people who pile up on you all of a sudden with threats etc …

My advice still is the same regarding blocking their emails, just turn them off. Do not respond to them—–do not feed the animals. I know its a bit like a bad tv show that you hate, but cant bring yourself to change the channel just to see how much worse they will take it. It is all hot air, spite, jealousy etc … though. You cannot reason with them. The only response I would even suggest giving any of them is an email saying you do not wish to have any interaction/communication from them, and any further attempts on their part will be reported to the police for harassment. Guess what.. .. it is very much against the law for them to continue to do so. When you cut off the fuel, ignore them .. .they get bored waving their fingers at a wall, do not get any satisfaction, and get a knot in their holy crusader underwear and move on …. unfortunately looking for new targets and meat to sink teeth into. but still.. …. the best way to fight it is to ignore, stick to guns, not let them make choices for you, and thusly it results in not allowing them to win or feel like they have any power over you.

You know, these same people who do this ….. I wonder how they would react if they were to get a report from school, or the parents of other kids telling them that their children are harassing other kids, making threats, bullying, emailing etc … It is total school ground tactics that are typically discouraged and even punished when discovered in children. yet here they are. Great examples. I hope they feel proud of themselves.”

Meet the Cult Leaders: The Kimmer, Singing Lass and sockpuppet Gary:

Emphasis mine, typos Singing Lass’.

How the Gravy Diet works:

While mainstream medical science kept telling people to lose weight by changing their diets and exercising more often, Dr. Morgan kept working towards his dream of providing people with a quickfix diet that would allow people to lose massive amounts of weight quickly, and without exercising.

Soon the Gravy Diet was born.

But how does it work?

Think of gravy as a lubricant -it makes things stick less- and when you eat nothing but gravy, your body loses its “grip” on your stored fats and incoming calories, making them easier to burn and eliminate.

The Gravy Diet works with your body naturally, causing a state Gravy Diet researchers call “diatosis”. Diatosis increases your metabolism, while at the same time reduces your absorbsion of incoming calories. Diatosis helps the body eliminate fat-building carbohydrates, fats, and proteins from your diet, causing quick and certain weight loss.

The key to the Gravy Diet is fine tuning your DVI, or Diatosis Volume Index. You’ll want to keep your DVI at approximately 1 liter per 10 kilograms of body weight.

Gravy Diet Success Stories:

I’ve been on diets all my life, and finally I discovered that diets just don’t work. Then I read Dr Morgan’s book, and I’m a diet believer again! I’ve lost over 45 pounds!
-John Henderson, Missouri

After years of trying fad diets that promised I could eat all I wanted, not exercise, and still lose weight, I tried the Gravy Diet! Now I can eat all the gravy I want and still lose weight! This is great! I’ve lost over 75 pounds!
-Mary Manski, North Dakota

By following Dr. Morgan’s wonderful diet, I was able to lose well over 200 pounds in just a few weeks. I’m a doctor, and I recomend Dr. Morgan’s Gravy Diet to all my patients.
-Dr. Robert Morgan, Texas

I lost a grand total of 2,358 pounds on the Gravy Diet. If I can do it, anybody can.
-Li Mei Choi, Fuzhou, China

Common myths about the Gravy Diet:

Myth #1: The Gravy Diet doesn’t work.

It has been conclusively proven that eating nothing but gravy causes a person to lose weight.

Myth #2: The Gravy Diet isn’t healthy.

Proponents of this myth haven’t been keeping up with recent scientific research which shows that the Gravy Diet is extremely healthy if health is measured by weight loss alone.

Myth #3: The Gravy Diet isn’t nutritious.

Nonsense. Properly prepared, gravy contains all the nutrition a person needs. In rare cases nutritional supplements are needed to replenish those nutrients lost to diarrhea, but usually only about 80-99% of those on the Gravy Diet find this necessary.

Myth #4: Constant diarrhea (diatosis) is not good for people.

This is the most common myth. While proponents of this myth will point to numerous anecdotal hospital reports of patients “suffering” from diarrhea, there is no hard scientific link between unhealthy people, diarrhea, and the Gravy Diet.

Myth #5: The same effects can be had by taking simple laxatives.

Nothing could be further from the truth! While it’s true that some people have lost weight by inducing diarrhea with laxatives, and that laxatives are sometimes a necessary part of the beginning phases of the Gravy Diet, research has shown that gravy-induced diarrhea is up to 7 times more effective than laxatives alone.

Myth #6: Gravy Dieters just blindly follow Dr. Morgan and worship him as a god.

Many people think Dr Morgan is treated more like a cult leader than a doctor giving medical advice, and many Gravy Dieters are accused of “hero worship”. But is this really true? Dr Morgan says it is not, and that He had predicted that His followers would be persecuted by the non-believers.

Myth #7: The world’s healthiest, longest lived, and least overweight cultures eat very little gravy.

They just think they’re healthy. And what good is living a long time if you’re not eating gravy?

The Gravy Train:

As the body of medical evidence supporting the Gravy Diet increases, more and more doctors and scientists “get on the gravy train” and support the gravy diet. Here is a sampling of quotes and excerpts from recent scientific studies on the Gravy Diet.

“The Gravy Diet is Gravylicious.”
–Dr. Robert Morgan.

“… gravy … can be … an effective tool … for … weight loss …”
–Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Well, yes, if you measure health by weight loss alone then a diet consisting of nothing but gravy and laxatives is ‘healthy’, but I…”
–US Surgeon General.

“…the patient lost a considerable amount of weight due to constant diarrhea…”
–Mayo Clinic hospital records.

“I really want the Gravy Diet to be true.”
–Editor of Gravy Monthly Magazine.

“Diatosis is good.”
–Gravy Science.

How does one start Dr. Morgan’s Revolutionary Gravy Diet? Just follow this simple four phase plan:

Induction

Buy Dr. Morgan’s book “Dr. Morgan’s Gravy Diet Revolution”.

If starting the Gravy Diet doesn’t initiate diatosis naturally, use the proper amount of Dr. Morgan’s Laxative Powder.

Weight Loss

If you haven’t done so already, buy Dr. Morgan’s book “Dr. Morgan’s Gravy Diet Revolution”.

Once you start shedding those pounds, have fun with your gravy. Try adding different spices.

Begin taking Dr Morgan’s SuperGravy Multi-vitamin.

Maintenance

Buy the damn book already.

Once you’ve reached you target weight, it’s important to stick with the diet forever. If you stray too far from a strict gravy diet, the weight will come back almost instantly. Most people have problems with this phase because they find that not being able to ever have candy, bread, rice, pasta, carrots, peanuts, apples, bananas, meats, and fish again a little depressing.

Don’t cheat, the effects of the Gravy Diet are eliminated by having a biscuit with your gravy!

Avoid Dying/Spend Money

Taking Dr Morgan’s SuperGravy Multi-vitamins can help avoid scurvy and death.

Buy new Gravy Diet books and products.

Remember that Dr. Morgan died for your sins, so pay us money.

I’m a plaintiff and a “prior member.”

Am I disgruntled? You bet! Some of my reasons are:

• I paid $14.95 to Kimkins to support Kimmer’s new board after being made to believe that she was unfairly treated on the low carb board I frequented. Little did I know that she was a lying liar that lies and does not deserve support in any shape or form.
  

• I paid $14.95 to Kimkins to help a scam artist build a business by starving people and causing them serious health problems.

• I paid $14.95 to Kimkins to find out that you really can not trust anybody on the internet, regardless of how long you have “known” them.
  

• I paid $14.95 to Kimkins just to be banned without any reason, no explanation, and no refund.

Am I looking for a “pot of gold?” Absolutely not! I don’t expect to see a dime after the lawyer has received his share. But, I will do anything in my power to make sure that no money fraudulently obtained from the Kimkins scam remains with Heidi Diaz.

So why I am doing this? Blogging? Being critical of Kimmer and Kimkins? My health was not affected as I never followed the Kimkins Diet and the only thing that was hurt were my feelings from being lied to. However, I feel responsible for contributing to create this monster in the low carb world. If I and others had not enthusiastically signed up for her board in the beginning, many people might have been spared the cost of membership, costs for ER, and suffering irreversible health consequences. I can not change the fact that I did, but I will do what I can to prevent further victims to this scam.

If you are or were a member of Kimkins, join the lawsuit. Working together, we can remove this menace from the internet!

• That the income and other funds which my family and I depended on to pay for food, heating and utility bills, car and insurance payments and the other necessities of day-to-day life 14 have all been frozen by the courts without warning or prior notice. She should have thought about that before paying CASH for a house and two brand new cars.

• That I recently purchased a home “AS-IS” and it is in need of substantial repairs to fix leaky plumbing, a faulty water heater, holes in the ceiling/walls, and an old stove that doesn’t work. I am not able to afford these repairs as a direct result of the writ of attachment issued against my personal accounts. Oh, I thought the son was a plumber. Not licensed, but can’t he practice on the house? And canned chicken doesn’t need to be heated.

• That I am unable to pay my medical insurance or buy prescription medications. Once my current medication supply runs out, I will not be able to pay for the refills. I seem to remember an old post where Kimmer was bragging that she lost all her weight when NOT taking her thyroid medication.

• That it is critical that I be able to pay for doctor’s office visits and laboratory tests since my diabetes is newly diagnosed and not stabilized. My doctor indicate that I likely will be required to start insulin therapy as well. Isn’t Kimkins perfect for diabetics, and they can go off medications? Or, was that false advertisement too?

• That the cash deposits in the Kimkins PayPal account utilized to operate the Kimkins business and services were frozen without warning or notice. This has seriously interfered with our daily business operations and forced substantial staff downsizing which has further impacted our level of service to customers. I seriously doubt that anyone is missing Tippy Toes and “Dr” Mark.
  

• That the current Kimkins credit card processing company charges a 14.5% fee which is 500% higher than the previous 2.9% PayPal fee. This has required a price increase which is a hardship for lower income prospective members. Hardship for prospective members? Shouldn’t it say loss of revenue for kimkins and Heidi Diaz?
  

• That certain funds were either held or transferred into the Kimkins PayPal account and specifically earmarked for member refunds. Those funds have been frozen and as a result, have seriously impacted the ability of Kimkins to provide prompt refunds when requested. Our usual business practice has allowed for instant refunds via PayPal in the past.Refunds? What refunds? I requested one and was promptly ignored. Not even denied, just ignored.
  

• That planned advertising for the important January weight loss season could not go forward due to the lack of available funds and this missed earning opportunity cannot be recovered. What were they supposed to advertise? Kimmer‘s lack of weight loss? I think that they were no longer able to use fake success stories to advertise Kimkins was really what made a new advertisement campaign useless.

Kimorexia has more on what Heidi Diaz did with the money she received from defrauding unsuspecting people wanting to lose weight: Boo Hoo.

Kimkins advertises

“Want to lose 100 pounds? How about in 5 months? Yes, it’s possible, and it doesn’t involve surgery, diet pills or throwing up after every meal. It’s called Kimkins.

The Kimkins diet was developed by a woman who goes by the online handle, Kimmer. She lost 198 pounds in less than a year, cutting down her weight from 318 pounds by around 200%.”

We now know that the last statement is a LIE. Kimmer never lost weight and while she recently has started to diet, she does not have by far the fast weight loss promised by the advertisement so that is a LIE also, at least when it comes to herself.

Even if it were possible to lose 100 pounds in 5 months, is it wise to even attempt it? I came across this article that makes a lot of sense to me:

You will be surprised to find out how many people are actually looking for a fast weight loss program. Why fast? Well, first of all, most of us are impatient. We live hectic lives. We want results now, we want to notice the change right away, and we don’t want to work hard to achieve those results.

Most people eat what they want all year round, prefer TV over exercising and dream about how next week (or month/year) they are going to start a healthy lifestyle. Suddenly one day they realize that it is just 2 weeks left before they have to go to a Christmas party or that summer is coming up and they want to look good in the new bikini. Usually around this time I get hundreds of emails – all of them pretty much the same “I have this event coming up in two weeks. I need to lose about 10-15 pounds. What is the fastest way to do it?”

Of course TV and Internet is full of commercials that promise you to lose 20 pounds in two weeks. They even show you tons of pictures of fit, smiling people with perfect bodies. Just pop a magic pill 3 times a day and you will turn into a supermodel right away. Sounds good, right?

I hate to disappoint you but this is just another scam created to get your money. There is no such thing as fast weight loss. I’m sure I’ll get some infuriated replies like “That can’t be true! My friend Maggie lost 16 pounds in two weeks doing Low carb diet!” Well you are in for another disappointment. Your friend didn’t lose any fat. She lost water and muscle.

Human body is a well coordinated working mechanism. It has no idea that you’ve decided to fit in a size 8 dress and doing some new fad diet. It thinks you are starving. It’s too concerned about survival to allow us losing weight fast. Instead your metabolism slows down to conserve the energy. As soon as you’ll start eating normal food you’ll gain all of your weight back and some extra pounds in addition to that.

To make it simple fast weight loss is always followed by fast weight gain. No exceptions. In addition to that when you lose weight too fast, your skin does not have enough time to shrink, it will become loose.

The right amount of weight that the average person can lose in one week by eating correctly and doing exercises is around 2-3 pounds. That is a healthy, safe, effective amount to lose. Only that way you can get long lasting results. I know it is not as fast as many people would like to lose weight, but think about it how long did it take you to gain weight? I bet you $1000 dollars you didn’t gain 20 pounds in two weeks. It is only logical, that your body will not allow you to lose 20 pounds in two weeks. Sorry!

I’m trying to save your money here, so repeat after me “There is no machine, no special diet, no special workout program, no special pill or special patch that will help me to lose weight fast and healthy at the same time”. Repeat it to yourself every time you have an urge to buy some “quick fix” no matter how appealing it sounds.

Remember people who have created these commercials are professionals who know what you would like to hear. Don’t let them fool you. Just try to eat right and work out. Be consistent. Make one little step at a time and you’ll be surprised how far you can actually go.

Copyright 2005 Arina Nikitina

(Bolding mine.)

The only constant about Tippy seems that she is constantly changing diets. Now, being at or close to goal, you would think she would have developed a WOE (way of eating) that is sustainable long term instead of jumping on one diet after another. What type of message is this giving to the girls that are following her advice on Tippy’s new board? Is she recommending that they switch diets on a weekly basis also?

Supposedly, the switch from the Kimkins-like CTF (Cut the Fat) diet Tippy has been following came after a guest post by Barry Groves (the author of Eat Fat Get Thin) and a subsequent lecturing by Jimmy Moore. Jimmy, and some other posters at the Camp, pointed out the need for fat in a low diet and suggested that CTF should not be promoted. Tippy apparently took the advice to heart and quickly declared that she is now following EFGT and that the CTF diet has been moved to a subsection under “Stillmans.”