science

Kimkins

Kimkins is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kimkins rather than just read about it. In short: Kimkins is an online diet program created by Heidi Diaz under the pseudonym 'Kimmer' that became famous in 2007 in the magazine Woman's World. The program became embroiled in controversy when it was found that its founder was morbidly obese and had provided some false testimonials on her website.

Key takeaways

Kimkins belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kimkins to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kimkins from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kimkins is an online diet program created by Heidi Diaz under the pseudonym 'Kimmer' that became famous in 2007 in the magazine Woman's World. The program became embroiled in controversy when it was found that its founder was morbidly obese and had provided some false testimonials on her website.

Overview The diet was developed by Diaz on Lowcarbfriends.com—an online message board focusing on low-carbohydrate diets . Diaz left the board in 2006 to start Kimkins with a partner, and in January 2007 People featured a column on extreme weight loss that mentioned Kimkins. The program gained popularity when Woman's World published a feature on the diet and its creator 'Kim Drake' in their June 12, 2007 issue. In August 2007, considerable negative coverage of the diet began appearing on the internet, particularly in the form of blogs and several of the site's administrators were fired after publicly questioning the diet. In September 2007, a private investigator was hired to investigate Diaz, exposing her real identity as well as publishing numerous photos demonstrating she was morbidly obese.

Lawsuit A class action lawsuit was launched against the website in March, 2008 after it was revealed that the diet's creator was a 300-pound woman named Heidi Diaz who was promoting the diet under the pseudonym Kim 'Kimmer' Drake. During investigations for the suit it was found that the website took in $1,200,000 during the month of June 2007 alone. It also was revealed that the post-weight loss photos were taken from a mail-order bride website rather than actually representing someone who actually had undertaken the diet. Numerous testimonials on the website were falsified, and several of the website employees have been fired for questioning the safety of the diet.

Consumer concerns Members of the website were banned after they disagreed with Diaz online. People who failed to lose weight were quickly blamed for not adhering to the diet strictly enough. Diaz encouraged people to continue following the plan despite showing signs of eating disorders. The diet won an award for "Worst Product for 2008" from the website healthyweight.net. The Los Angeles Better Business Bureau gave the company a rating of "F," which means they "strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices."

References

External links Official website "Kimkins" Diet Fraud Unmasked by Stephen Barrett at Casewatch.net

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kimkins

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kimkins claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kimkins before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kimkins ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kimkins

In research: Kimkins appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kimkins in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kimkins is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Diets, Fad diets, Health fraud products, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kimkins outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Kimkins” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Kimkins in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kimkins means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kimkins out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kimkins in simple terms?

Why does Kimkins matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kimkins?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kimkins.