THE TURN OF THE SCREW...

The Turn of the Screw, written by Henry James, is a novella where the reader is challenged to determine if the protagonist, a nameless governess, is reliably reporting events or, instead, is some kind of neurotic with an overheated imagination.

To further muddy the waters, her written account of the experience — a frame tale — is being read many years later at a Christmas house party by someone who claims to have known her. The account lends itself to many different interpretations, including those of a Freudian nature. Many critics have tried to determine what exactly is the nature of evil within the story.* (*portions from Wikipedia)

Well, Henry James's The Turn of the Screw immediately came to mind when I read one of the funniest posts I've seen in a long time, where Heidi Diaz (aka The Kimmer) puts the screws to Jeannie Baitinger (aka Tippy Toes).

You may recall that Jeannie Baitinger was the PR Director of Kimkins for a brief but shining moment. She recently appeared on national TV on FOX's "The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet" hawking Kimkins and the Kimkins starvation diet.

Shortly after appearing on the show, Jeannie Baitinger bailed from Kimkins, leaving Heidi high and dry (well, maybe not so dry if there was a bottle of Captain Morgan lying around).

So, Kimmer/Heidi, in a response yesterday to Diets in Review, dished out a big piece of comeuppance to Tippy Toes/Jeannie:

"Kimkins Follow-up
by Brandi
January 2, 2008
posted to Diets in Review.

I wanted to share this Kimkins follow-up with what looks like Kimmer herself. Back in October, Diets In Review shared with you the disappointing news that many Kimkins customers feel that the Kimkins program is fraudulent. Their PR manager, Jeannie Baitinger, responded to Diets In Review and we shared that post with you here.

It appears that in early December, Jeannie left Kimkins. This morning we received a response from Kimmer explaining the departure.

'Please be advised that Jeannie continues to follow and support the Kimkins Plan today.

She simply left Kimkins in order to help spread the word via her own Kimkins-based website. She has my blessing and full support for her Kimkins CTF Diet.

Jeannie is still a very strong Kimkins supporter, and she remains my right hand here at Kimkins. Kimkins would not be the success it is today without all the hard work and support that Jeannie has given me and continues to give me on a daily basis.

If your life has been benefitted by the Kimkins Diet, you owe a great debt to Jeannie and all her hard work.

I couldn’t have achieved all that I have achieved without the monumental contributions made by Jeannie.

She is a fine testament of the proof that the Kimkins Diet is working miracles for thousand of obese men and woman every day.

- Kimmer Jan 1st, 2008 at 6:21 pm'"

Now, please be assured that I am loathe to give The Kimmer a compliment of any kind whatsoever, but that e-mail was brilliant.

Why?

Because Tippy Toes,with her knickers in a full-blown twist, posts this diatribe in response:

"I am friggen stunned! I just don't know what else to say. Cutting/reducing fats from Atkins does not make it Kimkins. I have done both and I know the difference.

First, I am in no way affiliated with Kimkins. In fact, I don't even visit the site. Check the stats for yourselves. I will try to make this very clear. I left Kimkins to avoid being dragged into a lawsuit and a serious one at that. It is not my intent to bad mouth Heidi or her Kimkins plans. That is NOT saying I support her or any fraud she has done.

I am not following Kimkins diet. I am at goal. I did re-gain a tad over the holidays. I tried STILLMAN'S Quick Weight Loss and took it off. I do believe in freedom of plan choice and I will never bully or harass anyone for their plan of choice. As far as Kimkins plans, yes I did lose weight and a lot of it. No one wants to hear it but I will not lie about it. I have no reason to. I stalled on Atkins after about a 50lb loss. I tried Kimkins but learned I just couldn't stay on it long. But I also saw weight loss for the first time in a very long time. So, I learned to cycle it back and forth--Kimkins to lose--Atkins to maintain. There are threads at LCF which show this though they are mostly overlooked. : A matter of convenience I am certain. Check the thread "Has Atkins Quit Working For You". It's all there. Another thread I posted a lot on was Support Unlimited. And for a while Banta Babes. Some say that was never Kimkins... But on a Kimkins cycle round it WAS.

Because I did lose a lot of weight using Kimkins I have not asked her to remove my success story. I know that is going to make a lot of people mad to read but that is how I feel. It is fair. I have not had contact with Heidi about my pics, my story or anything else. All ties are severed. We do not communicate by email, telephone or 3rd parties. And while I have been granted immunity from the lawsuit in exchange for cooperating I have not joined the lawsuit nor do I want my money refunded. I just want to be left in peace from all sides. This has been a nightmare.

A family member has started reading all the blogs and such about me and is now worried to death over it all. He didn't need that at all. He has had one stroke previously and suffers from other health and stress problems. My daughter started reading it too and is very angry over the obvious lies. In fact, my entire family is worried sick for me. People who do not know me at all are repeating the lies. It is sickening of the joy some get from attempts to ruin a person's life. I don't understand it.

I had no idea when I left Kimkins that I would be starting a site. In fact, I looked into Amy's site as a new home and was instantly banned thanks to LCF members who are determined I am not worthy of support, even though I have supported so many of them on my weight loss journey. This is what lead to Brian and Heather offering to build us our very own "home" and that is how Camp Carbaway was born. There was no master plot happening at Kimkins. We can all clearly see how people who follow her diets are treated by the other low carb communities. IF she should be forced to shut her doors due to the lawsuit her people are most assuredly welcome here. In fact, I don't care if they want to be members of both. That is their right.

Further, I find it surprising that Heidi would want us to offer Kimkins plans here as she sent Brian an email with a hint she would sue anyone for copycatting her plans. And, after all, they do belong to her. I respect that. Because of that I find it hard to imagine that Heidi would write that at all... And I suspect she did not. What I do suspect is just another person claiming glory to once again put a dagger in the middle of my back. Seems my suffering is their joy.

Jimmy, pass my email on if you like. I am glad to give them an interview.
baitingerjeannie@yahoo.com "

Looks like The Kimmer succeeded in turning the screw.

Please check out the blogs of two of my favorite bloggers for their take on the latest round of Kimmer v. Tippy and Tippy v. Kimmer:

Mariasol

Kimkins Exhausted

LINK TO THE KIMMER'S POST:

http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/01/kimkins-follow-up/

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TIPPYTOES DOES A 180 !!!

For your edification and enjoyment, below is a rebuttal that TippyToes (Jeannie Baitinger), lately the PR Director of Kimkins, forwarded to the website, dietsinreview, http://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/Kimkins/ ) in response to their slamming review of the Kimkins diet:

"Diets in review has received a rebuttal to our review (below letter) from Jeannie Baitinger - Kimkins PR Director.

Dear Jim,

Thank you for giving Kimkins.com the opportunity to present our side of the story.

First please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jeannie Baitinger and on the website I am known as Tippy Toes. I am employed by Kimkins.com as PR Director and as management.

We know we are under attack from various sources. But many of these sources are coming from people who have only heard about our diets and have not actually tried them. The effect has been much like a snowball effect of people who genuinely mean well but are not actual members. Much is based on hear say and negative publicity.

Moreover, we offer no calorie limits on any plan. There are no 500 calorie per day plans. No plan is 100% fat free. We do allow the individual to use common sense when adding healthy fats and we term this as "just enough fat to make it work". We do not promote starvation of any kind and we never will. We encourage members to stick within the plan guidelines and further, we encourage them to add extra protein and possibly extra salads if they are still hungry or not feeling well.

We do not encourage or promote laxative abuse. However, it is not at all uncommon for a low carb diet plan to cause constipation. When a member complains we have recommended gentle stimulants such as M.O.M. or 100% physillium husks. There is also a tea which is helpful in relieving symptoms. We will never recommend laxatives as part of weight loss plans. Never!

Additionally we do encourage our members to have their Doctor's review the plans and monitor their progress. Many, many members report excellent lab reviews and Doctor's blessings. On our website I have never seen anything but positive reviews. On other websites I read the negatives but without offered proof. What I do read are stories of hair loss. This seems common on a lot of diets. Even the Atkins diet can cause this. When I did Atkins it happened to me. Oddly, I never lost hair doing Kimkins though. But again, hair loss is easily corrected and people who have their Doctor's monitoring progress can address the issue and get help. I would find it rather bizarre to lose huge chunks of my hair and still continue with any diet WITHOUT seeing my Doctor immediately. So I must question why there are no medical claims based on proof...

I am personally a Kimkins success story. I began my weight loss journey at 263 lbs. I am a female of 5' 7". I began losing weight with the Atkins diet (also quite con-traversal) and did well on it for about a year. I lost approximately 50 lbs on Atkins and then it stopped working. For the next 6 months I lost no further weight or inches. A dear friend told me about the Kimkins diet and I decided to give it a try. The weight came off just as promised! EXACTLY as promised! I made a personal choice to begin alternating Kimkins diet with Atkins. On Kimkins I could lose the weight and on Atkins breaks I could easily maintain it. Today my current weight is 152. Maintaining my weight has never been so easy thanks to a low carb lifestyle.

Our website is full of happy success stories much like mine. Many people have no trouble doing only Kimkins straight to goal. I have seen amazing losses--as much as 100lbs in 5 months. These big losses are quite common at Kimkins. Side effects appear minimal and as stated previously we do encourage everyone to have their Doctor's monitor them every step of the way.

Our members are not uneducated people being mislead. We just completed a Teacher's Challenge and the entire group lost an unbelievable amount of weight. The teacher's group had planned to make a public donation to fund teachers but with all the negative publicity they have opted for private donations instead. It is not at all uncommon for Internet users to wish to remain private. That is why many choose a nickname rather than using a real name.

As far as the founder of Kimkins.com is concerned and with all due respect, most members really don't care who she really is or is not. We believe the founder has every right to privacy and further we believe she is entitled to such. Her real name and weight is not an issue to people who are serious about weight loss and finally are able to make it happen. People buy a membership for their own weight loss and that is what they get. Weight loss. Our claim "there is no faster weight loss plan" is very accurate.

I will be more than happy to issue you a temporary site pass if you would like to come in and see what is really happening for yourself. Just let me know if you are interested in the real truth. It's pretty amazing!

Sincerely,
Jeannie Baitinger,
PRKimkins.com "


Given Tippy's post this morning on Eating Low with Amy, and what she forwarded to dietsinreview a short while ago, does anyone else feel like vomiting?

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