Swimsuit wonder diet

July 3, 2012, 6:18 pm Damien Hansen Today Tonight

A men's magazine model, whose slimming plan has become an overnight sensation, has sold over 20,000 copies of her diet, but is she the real deal?

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The sales of Ashy Bines's Clean Eating Plan have meant the 23-year-old is well on her way to making her first million just six months after starting her online business.

But the success has not come without the critics, who question her credentials and whether her diet works.

The 23-year-old overnight online slimming sensation is making enemies almost as fast as she's winning fans and raking in the money.

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Bines has amassed a fortune by selling her fitness secrets to twenty thousand Australian women. She has her own YouTube channel and a Facebook page with thousands of fans.

For $69 you can buy the bikini queen's diet plan - her recipe to look as good as she does.

Her supporters say she's the real deal. But there is a growing number of disgruntled customers who claim the blonde Gold Coaster is a fake.

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“I think most people know I have had a little work in my breast department, but I'm not going to deny that - I never have denied that. But otherwise yes I'm all natural,” Bines said.

She's been accused of selling access to a private Facebook site that doesn't deliver on her promise of 24/7 support.

Since the story broke about a cyber hate campaign being waged against the young entrepreneur Magdalena Owen was among the disgruntled customers who contacted us.

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“There were no health professionals available to speak to at all, and Ashy Bines herself didn't really answer the questions. She just asked people to Google it, which is not what I paid for. I paid for that support,” Owen said.

However Bines says “I'm not superwoman. I get back to everyone as quickly as I can. Because it grew so fast we've now hired a lot more staff to handle the amount of traffic that we are getting.”

The online attacks are scathing and some even threatening.

The chief accusation is that Bines has no qualifications to dispense nutritional advice - something she freely admits.

Someone who is qualified is dietician Julie Masci, who does say there is a lot of sound advice on the site.

However, she also says “you need to be a qualified dietician and nutritionist to provide any advice regarding diet or supplementation, but that hasn't happened in this case.”

Masci is worried about Bines’s ability to deliver that advice, particularly to people with specific health needs, which she warns could be dangerous.

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This reporter is on Twitter at @DamienHansen7



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