Please help with letter for holiday diet!

[Jo123]

Hi, well I am an avid low carber, I try to limit my fats to healthy ones as my cholesterol, used to be excellent before I low carbed including my trigs, but has gone up a bit but still ok.
Well we have booked a winter holiday in a chalet in Italy, they have said they have no problem with special diet, I have done a draft of the email and I would welcome any improvements. I have to say I find holidays really hard and I generally lose weight as I just can't eat enough to keep the weight on low carbing!
Anyway here is what I have got so far as a first draft, "As discussed on the phone I have special dietary needs due to being type 2 diabetic, you said this would not be a problem. As the booking form doesn't cover this requirement I am emailing you the details. To keep my blood sugar absolutely normal I do not eat any sugar, breakfast cereal, rice, potatoes, pasta, pulses, bread, very little fruit, a very small amount of root veg, basically the only carbs I eat are in the form of green veg or salad stuff! But I am very unfussy and I appreciate this is difficult so I would be quite happy with a bit of say chicken and some frozen veg! The only food I really don't like is offal, except liver which I do like. And if there is a meal with a bit of flour in the sauce then that is no big deal."

How does that sound, have I forgotten anything? Any help welcome

 

[Brunneria]

Hi,

Is all the food catered? Do you have access to menus or typical foods?
(My sister catered in Swiss holiday chalets for several years, which made her an English cook catering for English customers, but I don't know if she fed them English style food, although she would only have been able to source Swiss ingredients)

The only time I've been to Italy, the hotel bent over backwards to provide the mad Brits with their mad British fried breakfast. So we were fine! Continental breakfasts often have slices of cheese and cold meat, so that would be fine too. But you might be in trouble with divine Italian pastries and a latte...

Lunch and dinner. Goodness, it all depends on the pasta and bread content, doesn't it?
Maybe you could add a sentence to your letter, along these lines:
'Basically, I can eat the meat, fish or cheese, salad and vegetables in most meals, so if I could have a plate of those, without the bread, pasta, pastry, rice and potato, it might make it simpler.'

Good luck.

It should be a fantastic experience!

 

[douglas99]

Italy, home of pizza and pasta.

'Basically, I can eat the meat, fish or cheese, salad and vegetables in most meals, so if I could have a plate of those, without the bread, pasta, pastry, rice and potato, it might make it simpler.'
is ok, providing they don't do that - take a meal, remove the bits you don't want, and give you the small amount left.

Nick as much as you can from the buffet, if there is one at breakfast, pinch load of cheese and meat.

I'm struggling to think of any winter Mediterranean diet food that hasn't got carbs in

try

antipasto platter
soup
salad, with a lot of olive oil
the meat or fish, without pasta, unsweetened tomato sauce.
roast vegetables, but you may need to suggest some, and exclude some.

Try to give them an idea of how many calories you want, so they can up the portion size of the bits you do eat.

From memory, some of the liver can be breaded, as can some meats and fish, make sure you tell them this is a no no.

 

[Jo123]

Hi,

Is all the food catered? Do you have access to menus or typical foods?
(My sister catered in Swiss holiday chalets for several years, which made her an English cook catering for English customers, but I don't know if she fed them English style food, although she would only have been able to source Swiss ingredients)

The only time I've been to Italy, the hotel bent over backwards to provide the mad Brits with their mad British fried breakfast. So we were fine! Continental breakfasts often have slices of cheese and cold meat, so that would be fine too. But you might be in trouble with divine Italian pastries and a latte...

Lunch and dinner. Goodness, it all depends on the pasta and bread content, doesn't it?
Maybe you could add a sentence to your letter, along these lines:
'Basically, I can eat the meat, fish or cheese, salad and vegetables in most meals, so if I could have a plate of those, without the bread, pasta, pastry, rice and potato, it might make it simpler.'

Good luck.

It should be a fantastic experience!

Thanks for your reply, I really value the help as I only want to write one email, not keep perstering them with things I have forgotten!

I think the breakfasts should be ok and lunch isn't included so I am sure I can find something. But I like your sentence, and you have included pastry, forgot about that!
I will be taking lots of nuts with me as well to fill any gaps!

 

[Jo123]

Italy, home of pizza and pasta.

'Basically, I can eat the meat, fish or cheese, salad and vegetables in most meals, so if I could have a plate of those, without the bread, pasta, pastry, rice and potato, it might make it simpler.'
is ok, providing they don't do that - take a meal, remove the bits you don't want, and give you the small amount left.

Nick as much as you can from the buffet, if there is one at breakfast, pinch load of cheese and meat.

I'm struggling to think of any winter Mediterranean diet food that hasn't got carbs in

try

antipasto platter
soup
salad, with a lot of olive oil
the meat or fish, without pasta, unsweetened tomato sauce.
roast vegetables, but you may need to suggest some, and exclude some.

Try to give them an idea of how many calories you want, so they can up the portion size of the bits you do eat.

From memory, some of the liver can be breaded, as can some meats and fish, make sure you tell them this is a no no.

Thanks for your reply Douglas, indeed that's my concern, the pizza and pasta!
I shall indeed to try and find an antipasto platter for lunch and the salad.
I am hoping I won't starve as before I booked I was quite explicit about what I don't eat and they were very reassuring. And it is a very small company with a very good reputation,

 

[Tweetypie]

I went to Rome earlier this year. I didn't want to miss out on having pizza, so I ordered a Calzone and just ate the filling, with loads of salad, oil and olives - it was yummy! I also had courgette flowers (called zucchini I think) and left the batter - very nice too! There are also lots of nice cheeses and meats you can have. For breakfast, there was ricotta if you wanted it and it was very good (but beware, not carb free).
Be careful of the balsamic they may provide, it can be very sweet, better to have other vinegars instead if you can.
I did very well until we stumbled upon apparently the best gelato parlour in Italy, well, we should all have a little treat once in a while...........say no more!
Have a lovely time

 

[Jo123]

Just wanted to follow up to say that the chalet company I went with bent over backwards to cater for my diet, and the food was delicious!
The company was Colletts and I would highly recommend them, in fact some of the low carb replacements I had caused envious glances from the other guests!