Kimkins Controversy Continues To Boil

While checking out a recent reader with an intriguing blog listed on my ‘MyBlogLog’ widget at her blog called Good Carbma, I happened on a website listed on her blogroll entitled Kimkins Survivors.

My curiosity piqued by the recent Kimkins controversy, I clicked on the link. I must say, reading a first hand expose on someone’s personal experience with Kimkins is eye opening.

Here’s an excerpt:

“I believed Kimmer when she said new information shows that laxatives are not addictive, so I started taking ex-lax, much as she said her sister did. I took it for almost 5 months, morning and night, and it worked. After hearing the upset on the lowcarbfriends board, I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t “go” without them. I am still trying to undo the harm they have caused.”

“Another problem I had on Kimkins was the lack of energy and inability to exercise like before. I did go to the gym, but where I used to walk quickly on the treadmill, I had to walk very slowly and where I used to walk for almost an hour, I had to stop at 20 min. I just didn’t have the energy to go on. By the time I got home and took my shower, I was spent. Thank goodness I didn’t have a job outside the home. I truly don’t know how I could have worked all day in that condition.”

“When I go into the Kimkins site now, it breaks my heart to see the women talking about how few calories they are eating, threads about how weak they are feeling, etc. I don’t know how to help them because I feel if I say something, the post will be pulled before anybody can see it. It has happened to others.”

Although I’ve tried to stay out of the fray over Kimkins controversial approach to weight loss as much as possible, I had to post my views recently in “How Much Body Fat Can You Lose In A Week?" and Jimmy Moore at Livin La Vida Low Card kindly used my article as a reference in his recent post here.

Although I believe everyone has to find their own diet and fitness path that suits their unique lifestyle, metabolism and goals, I believe it would be irresponsible if I were to see someone heading off a proverbial diet cliff and I didn’t yell “stop!”

As a former CSA certified sports nutritionist – I let my certification lapse as I’m not working but my knowledge hasn’t lapsed - my training is in nutrition that supports athletic performance. But I’ve studied nutrition in general and bodybuilding nutrition in particular long enough to know starvation is unhealthy and intermittent fasting should be used sparingly. Efficient fat loss is achieved through adequate nutrition that supports good health and lean mass, and physical exercise that includes resistance training and aerobics.

People on long term very low calorie diets who cannot or will not exercise will lose muscle mass and slow their metabolisms. At the very least, they risk looking gaunt, depleted, and unfit, and feeling weak or unwell. Practiced long term, these VLC diets can cause irreparable damage and death.

I wrote the article “How Much Body Fat Can You Lose In A Week?" with the mindset of ‘do the right thing.’ I figured at least my readers might gain insight into why rapid weight loss on very low calorie diets was a bad idea. I had no idea it would end up being referenced at other blogs like Back Across The Line on The Kimkins Saga Revisited and Kimkins Exposed and I’m happy to see the word being spread about the hazards of VLC dieting.

It’s worth saying again, any diet program that is not medically supervised that requires you to eat less calories than your BMR, encourages laxatives or other drugs, water restriction, no exercise, or other wacky practices (vinegar and lemon enemas anyone?) is potentially dangerous. Particularly if you practice it long term.

The healthiest approaches to weight loss and maintenance will always require common sense, effort, discipline, a little sacrifice and balance. It is sheer fantasy to believe you can wave a magical wand and sit on your arse and lose all the body fat you want in 30 days with little or no effort other than starving. You’ll lose scale weight, sure. But that approach is like shooting a sparrow with a bazooka.

I believe most all of us have been guilty at one time or another of pursuing diet and fitness goals for the wrong reasons; a poor body image that overrides our self worth, other people’s opinions, wanting popularity, family or peer pressure, wanting to fit into a certain size or see a number on the scale, looking good for a certain event or photo, looking to impress the world or one other person.

Impatience, short term gratification, neediness, fear, greed, or short sightedness drive us to adopt desperate measures, pursue worldly goals with no satisfaction or true merit. We try a very low calorie diet and no exercise, or running 10 miles a day and eating only meat. Extreme measures that you can’t maintain as a lifestyle are doomed to fail.

Our diet and fitness goals should reflect our pursuit of a higher quality of life, an improved level of health, improved performance in physical, mental and spiritual pursuits. We can achieve our goals through better nutrition, an informed, balanced, and dedicated fitness plan including aerobics, resistance training and outdoor sports that challenge us and lift our spirits.

We become satisfied, more effective, closer to feeling complete, happier and at peace when we stretch our boundaries, challenge ourselves, try and accomplish what we fear, dislike or wish to avoid. We become more like the person we envision ourselves to be.

I’m convinced most people who turn to these medically unsupervised VLC diets are ignorant of the facts of how dangerous they can be, or desperate to loss weight fast despite any consequences, or too lazy or impatient to do the work necessary (aerobics, resistance training, appropriate calories and ratios of eating clean foods) to achieve a fit, healthy body through hard work and diligent balanced eating.

Bottom line, seeing a lower number on the scale is not worth sacrificing your health, vitality, muscle mass, and peace of mind.

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body," 1 Cor. 6:19-20

Additional Links

Very Low Calorie Diet = "Skinny Fat Person"

Why Bodybuilders And Fitness Models Eat More And Are The Leanest People On Earth, While Low Calorie Dieters Are The Fattest...

Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2004
From: Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Re: The very Low Calorie Diet Paradox

Very Low Calorie Diets can make you fat!

What??? I know it sounds impossible, but this is a scientifically accurate statement - the research on weight loss physiology and the statistics on diet relapse and weight gain bear it out every time. There is a better way to achieve permanent fat loss than low calorie dieting.

But first, let me clarify that seeming paradox: You WILL lose weight (and sometimes FAST), on a very low calorie diet. The trouble is, you will only lose in the beginning. In the long term, you set yourself up hormonally and metabolically to:
(1) Slow down your metabolism (so fat loss is even more difficult the next time)
(2) Hit a fat loss plateau
(3) Regain all the weight
(4) Damage your health due to nutritional deficiency

Read More Here.

Dr. Caroline Cederquist, a bariatric physician shares information about healthy eating and controlling weight without dangerous dieting.


Fat Loss by Dave Draper

You build muscle, you lose fat. You build muscle, you gain strength, energy, resistance, enthusiam, creativity, ability, longevity, esteem - you hit the jack pot.
Most diets don't work for long term fat loss. They're concerned with reducing weight rather than burning excess bodyfat. They strip off vital muscle, the body's major fat burning component. When you remain at a particular bodyfat level for a long period of time, your body recognizes that as your fat setpoint. Substantial time (patience, discipline and fortitude) is required to lower your fat setpoint as you seek complete and permanent changes.

Read More Here.

The Diet Channel

People who are interested in going on a very low-calorie diet (VLCD) should first consult a physician. A very low-calorie diet is any diet that allows 800 calories or less in a day; and the diet is overseen by a physician. The length of such a diet is relatively short, usually between 3 and 6 months. Any longer and serious health complications may arise. Read more here.

Warning!
Under no circumstances should anyone follow a very low calorie diet without medical supervision.

Any diet with an intake of about 800 calories per day is a very low calorie diet. Such a diet should only be followed for a relatively short term (3-6 months) and only under medical supervision. Medical supervision is essential for several reasons: (a) To ensure only suitable candidates follow the diet; (b) To ensure adequate nutrition; (c) To monitor progress.

Read More Here.

From Kimkins Dangers Blog

Warning Signs

There are many warning signs that will indicate when one is approaching a very dangerous health issue while following this diet plan.

If you are following the Kimkins diet and experiencing any of the following, please see your physician ASAP. Do not wait.

Light-headed or dizzy
Muscle fatigue or weakness
Fluttering Heart feeling
Irregular Pulse / Heartbeat
Listlessness and apathy
Anemia
Dry, scaly skin
Edema
Moderate to severe hair loss
Hair losing pigmentation
Brittle or malformation of fingernails
Slow wound healing
Bone and joint pain (that was not present before)
Mental changes - irritability, forgetfulness, confusion
Bleeding gums
Photosensitivity
Loss of reflexes
Decreased motor function
Lack of coordination
Muscle twitches or cramping
Weakened immune system

All of these symptoms can present when following a VLCD which we define as any diet plan under 800 calories per day. 200-500 calories a day can be fatal after a short time (even 2-3 months).

Read More Here.