Dear Marlene

Deb213 · ‎05-27-2011

Dear Marlene,

Please stop telling the viewers that you "personally" respond to each and every e-mail that you receive. I sent you an e-mail in January regarding your newest cookbook. Specifically, I asked how your recipes line up with the Atkins or Keto diet where carbs are tracked very carefully. I also asked what kind of sugars you are using now as I know you used to use Splenda. If you are using real sugar, that would not be compatible with the Atkins or Keto diets. This is the response I got from your team on Jan 21st:

"Thanks for your email.
We'll get back to you as soon as possible!"

Again, in this morning's presentation of your cookbook, you made the statement again that will "personally" respond to an e-mail. I didn't actually expect that you would personally respond, but I did expect an answer from your team at some point. It is now almost March and I have yet to get an answer.

Additionally, there are several questions at the bottom of the page that your item is shown on the QVC website that have never been answered, many of which deal with the carb and sugar issue. It would be great if someone could at least answer those questions if e-mails cannot be responded to in a timely fashion.

loriqvc · ‎11-06-2011

@Deb213 - I'm sorry to hear that you haven't gotten a response from Marlene; I sent her an email inquiry related to her last book shortly after it debuted and did get a reply, though it took a couple of weeks (I suspect she probably gets a lot of email when she's promoting a new book).

As far as the sugar question goes, if you check out the book on Amazon, it offers the "Look Inside" feature that allows you to see a significant selection of the content. It appears that this book lists "granulated sweetener" in all the recipes that applies to and then references a list of sugar and substitutes Marlene has compiled—with their comparative measurements—that can be used depending on your preference. (I always appreciate her list of sugar options because I'm severely allergic to sucralose/Splenda.) As for carbs, it also appears that there are a couple of pages devoted to that topic in the introduction of the book, but only a paragraph or two are visible in the preview.

I don't believe most vendors answer the questions posted in the online item descriptions (in fact, the only ones I know who do on a regular basis are Rastelli and Valerie Parr Hill), and since the book won't be released for another six weeks or so, no fellow QVC customers can help yet.

Deb213 · ‎05-27-2011

@loriqvc wrote:
@Deb213 - I'm sorry to hear that you haven't gotten a response from Marlene; I sent her an email inquiry related to her last book shortly after it debuted and did get a reply, though it took a couple of weeks (I suspect she probably gets a lot of email when she's promoting a new book).

As far as the sugar question goes, if you check out the book on Amazon, it offers the "Look Inside" feature that allows you to see a significant selection of the content. It appears that this book lists "granulated sweetener" in all the recipes that applies to and then references a list of sugar and substitutes Marlene has compiled—with their comparative measurements—that can be used depending on your preference. (I always appreciate her list of sugar options because I'm severely allergic to sucralose/Splenda.) As for carbs, it also appears that there are a couple of pages devoted to that topic in the introduction of the book, but only a paragraph or two are visible in the preview.

I don't believe most vendors answer the questions posted in the online item descriptions (in fact, the only ones I know who do on a regular basis are Rastelli and Valerie Parr Hill), and since the book won't be released for another six weeks or so, no fellow QVC customers can help yet.

Thanks so much for your response @loriqvc! I will try the Amazon look inside feature and see if I can determine the sugars that she is using in her recipes to see if they are compatible with a low carb, low sugar diet. In a previous presentation, she kept using the term "natural sugars" which isnt very helpful. I just dont want to order her cookbook if I am not able to use it.

I have seen other vendor reps or QVC customer care representatives answer the questions on a QVC item page, but I dont know when they are employed. It seems somewhat random at times. But you brought up a good point in that other QVC customers may be able to help once the book has been sent out to those who purchased it on advance order. I may just wait to see what they have to say.

Thanks again for your great input - much appreciated!

loriqvc · ‎11-06-2011

@Deb213 - You're very welcome! But if you're just looking for the sugar "types," see my note about all the recipes simply saying "granulated sweetener"—that's truly all you'll find. It looks like Marlene leaves it up to the home cook to determine which type of sweetener you want to use in recipes based on the equivalency chart, so that's likely a good thing if you're already accustomed to using alternate sweeteners/sugars in recipes.

P.S. If you're not in a hurry to get the new book the day it comes out (QVC will be shipping it three weeks before anyone else), I highly recommend ordering through Amazon; with the preorder guarantee, you'll get the book at the lowest price it is offered between the time you order and the time it is released. I'm fortunate to have ordered it when it was first offered for preorder, which means the most I'll pay is about $18! I've seen the price fluctuate by a few dollars over the past few weeks, but the price is rarely higher than the current one at QVC, plus if you have Prime you won't pay for shipping.

Deb213 · ‎05-27-2011

@loriqvc Thanks again! I did take a look on Amazon and it appears as though she does allow for several sugar substitutes and does convert the measurements which is very helpful. So the sugar side of the equation might actually work for me.

Now the other issue will be her carb gram counts. From the limited look I can see, it appears as though her carb gram counts are pretty high. In fact, in the sections where she addresses carbs, her carb count for a 1 day period is MUCH higher than I allow myself on a daily basis. I am not sure that there is any work around for that. I may just have to buy a cookbook that is strictly low carbs to find what I am looking for. There are plenty of them out there - I was just hoping Marlene's would work as I have her other cookbooks and have enjoyed them. Unfortunately, I am not doing her low fat type diet anymore. Oh well, it was worth a try!

Thanks also for the Amazon tip! I do have Prime and so it would be a bit cheaper to order it there.

Have a great day!