Pregnancy and chalet food

A snowHead

So "might" be pregnant. All planned and early stages but want to ski this year. Current thinking is Half Board Hotel easier than chalet meals for the can't eat any nice cheeses/seafood/pate/cured meats/proper steak situation but would it be possible to accommodate these rather tedious needs in the chalet situation? Preferably without the other guests (not related) discussing if skiing when pregnant is appropriate.

Have been obeying the food and drug decrees since we started trying unless sure I'm not pregnant but don't intend stopping riding until at least 12 weeks so happy about skiing to a similar point. Realistic cut off is early Feb as CBA with half term queues + busier resort + increased cost.

OH carelessly broke his arm in October and is working as a horse vet no major issues but need to wait until cleared by quacks (they let him work which is way more risky than skiing so hopeful) hence limited window.

Keen to return to Dolomites or try Austria but could do with leaving options open for France as going to be booking no more than 2 weeks in advance so want to be as flexible as possible.

Thanks

R

A snowHead

Congratulations. Isnt anything ok these days? I wouldnt be going raw oysters or other raw seafood/meat but havent most other threats been discounted?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Randomsabreur,
Congrats and hope all goes well I would consider a hotel , more variety of food and less likely to have to put up with a potential bore worrying about your pregnancy. If you are going early stages a hotel might be a bit more comforting if you have morning sickness.
Mrs T Bar skied during both our kids pregnancies and I don't think they have suffered as a result, not beyond getting my half of the gene pool anyway.

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Hmmm I have vegetarian friends who have been served up tuna in hotels so not sure how much you can say hotels are better than chalets. Saying that I stayed in Italy when I was about 14 weeks pregnant and survived. As long as you are sensible you should be OK. I am currently having chemotherapy and have a very similar list of foods I can't eat. I have still eaten out and made judgements at the time. Obviously I'm not travelling abroad at the moment but if I were I wouldn't be too worried. It's mostly uncooked food that is the issue so making sensible choices should see you right.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@dbaskls, hope all goes well with the Chemo x

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We Skied the Dolomites with Colletts catered while OH was preggers. Booked before she knew she was preggers and wasn't exactly a planned thing.

She spewed the whole time. We knew no-one else there but no-one said she shouldn't ski, they all knew she was preggers as she would suddenly go pale and rush off so they were worried about her. She doesn't drink anyway but it was a very good way of making sure they didn't keep badgering her to have a drink...

I'd have thought if you had a chat to the hosts and they can deal with your needs. Don't really remember her having any issues except feeling ill and not wanting stuff. Plenty people don't like seafood/ claim to be allergic. Plenty don't like Pate. Plenty would turn a steak away if bleeding. Lots fussy about sift cheeses. So the only unusual thing would be cured meat and I have to confess I'm not sure she avoided it...! But there would usually be a veggy option.

We checked advice in skiing when preggers and it was very vague..

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@dbaskls, Good luck with the chemo.
Personally I have found chalets a bit variable with their ability to cope with dietary requirements. A friend who is coeliac had a couple of complete disasters in chalets and refuses to go to them now. Some are undoubtedly excellent. Most hotels do have a more varied menu to choose from.

After all it is free

Thanks.

Brief sense check is rare/cured meats risk a certain not entirely eradicated parasite (cured meats fine if cooked), seafood toxins not fun (+ski resort not coastal so less fresh), soft cheeses more risk of listeriosis but fine cooked and liver based pates banned due to vit A content. Otherwise avoid food poisoning risks (currently not drinking tap water at home as private supply to estate and chlorination is odd - tastes horrendous boiled so not worth risk according to OH.

All seem sensible enough to me but pretty restrictive given what I like eating and my recollection of chalet food.

Not wasting decent steak, unfair on the cows, bad enough that the MIL cremates most meats as a matter of course...

More comfortable with physical risks than hidden ones- easier to quantify and less luck based!

Good luck with the chemo..

Think I'd find it easier actively choosing something else over declining what I like but can't have Twisted Evil

Avoid temptation so to speak...

No French burgers anyway Razz

Would have been fine last year HB in Italy, just less of the salad bar available which would not have been bad for the waistline!

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As long as you give your hosts a list of things you can't eat at the point of booking you should be fine - if your hosts are half decent they won't discuss your dietry needs in front of other guests, therefore it's up to you who you tell that you're pregnant.

I'd do some thorough research though and always ask questions about the hosts before you book, there's a huge difference between an actual chef and someone employed in a chalet to cook. if you go with a place that employs an actual chef the food should be more than delicious, if you go with someone employed to cook with no relevant experience, it COULD be a disaster.

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Hi @Randomsabreur,

All chalet companies are used to dealing with pregnant guests in a tactful, not tell all the guests way. We often get group bookings where people that the pregnant guest is travelling with don't know, and staff will have come across this before.

However, everyone has different things they do/don't eat whilst pregnant so the key is to be really clear about what you can/can't have. Eg write "I am not eating shellfish, raw meat or fish (including cured meats or smoked salmon), raw alcohol (cooked is fine) soft cheeses except cream cheese or motzarella and I would like all meat well done". Rather than just writing that you are pregnant on the form. That way they will alter the menu to accommodate you rather than just not serving you stuff.

It is also fine to write that it is still early in the pregnancy and that you would prefer this wasn't discussed with other guests.

Have a good holiday!

snow reports

I skied when pg with youngest child (found out at airport hotel so was a touch unplanned). Just avoid all the usual stuff that they advise you to. I was most disgruntled to be going on a ski trip to Canada where beer was off the menu Evil or Very Mad

@dbaskls I want to see you back on those slopes next year otherwise I'm coming to get you and take you myself. I'll try not to put too many snowy pics on FB for you to see! x

You know it makes sense.

Wife got ski mileage under belt with both Jnr Sideways on board, lamented lack of maternity skiwear as I recall. Anyway as we were advised by a healthcare professional "if you would normally eat it if you weren't pregnant, eat it." So basically Rule 5 is in effect, but with a pink and fluffy filter in deference to Jnrs presence.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Mrs B was pregnant when we were in chalet with friends and family, but we hadn't told anyone. A quiet word with the host meant anything risky was avoided. Worst part of course was the free wine with meals, I was having to (having to I say) clear Mrs B's glass when no-one was looking to avoid suspicions. She may have been eating for 2 - I was drinking for 2

A snowHead

@sev112 I took a pg test at the airport as I felt a bit crap and was a few days late! Waters don't generally break until a few months later Laughing

I'd taken one earlier in the week and it was negative but was just being ultra cautious with going skiing

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Randomsabreur, Tentative congratulations Very Happy

IME most chalet girls should be able to cope reasonably well with your dietary requirements. If all else fails then I suggest skiing in France where, as I understand it, the official recommendation is to eat pate, cheese etc. as normal. This article is interesting: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/may/29/health.medicineandhealth

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@foxtrotzulu, I was preggers on one Le Manoir break. Waiter was very brave addressing the situation as I wasn't too far along and could easily have just been a bit podgy. He asked if I'd like anything changed to the menu - there was fois gras on there...he was French and I asked what they did in France and he replied that for such a little amount they wouldn't think twice about it

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Randomsabreur, I would advise you to avoid open salad buffet type meal set up at any time, but particularly if your are pregnant, too many hands in the pot so to speak, and you may want to consider drinking bottled water, we've had a coupele of issues when drinking the tap water and ended up with mountain trots, which I guess you would want to avoid. Embarassed

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Thanks.

Though I have lived in France doubt I could rely on the French diet based immunity. Guardian article very interesting. Caffeine not an issue- never liked tea or coffee, could do with reducing Coke consumption anyway, ditto booze for the podge factor.

Lucky thus far with the whole morning sickness thing, but it could just be lying in wait.

Last minute anyway, most last minute we've ever done, so will know how I feel.

Hoping for Austria/Dolomites as less restricted in choices there!

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@Shimmy Alcott, very very diplomatic. I do recall a newly-pregnant friend in Serre Che asking me what was allowed in the UK as she didn't want to upset family by eating things that would be considered dangerous here. The official advice there on unpasteurised cheese was not to eat the rind. I ate anything and everything when I was pregnant as most of the scares came later.

After all it is free

@Hells Bells, I did know a pharmacist who wouldn't sterilise his babies bottles. Said a hot wash was sufficient.

@Shimmy Alcott, he was probably right, especially if that hot wash was in a dishwasher.

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@dbaskls, Best wishes x

@Randomsabreur, Just spoke to elder daughter who has worked cooking and hosting in chalets for TOs. She said your requirements would have been adhered to to the letter when she was out there and there would have been no fuss made of it. Hope this helps.

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My SIL has just had a beautiful baby girl - on Christmas Day, no less - and avoided soft cheeses, which was a nightmare for her as she loves them!

However, she did continue to eat seafood as from supermarkets in the UK and decent restaurants - i.e., not off the back of a tuk tuk in Bangkok - and had no problems.

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@sev112, rofl, that made me laugh out loud, I'm sure that wasn't the reaction she wanted.

You know it makes sense.

This is a very strange discussion. Puzzled

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Randomsabreur, we have skied a couple of times whilst Mrs Ed pregnant. Main problem was morning sickness, didn't eat steak tartar or soft / blue cheese or mousse with raw egg.

THe pregnancy advice changes a lot. If you are a vet as well and or have lots of cats / animals around then it will be quite likely that you have been exposed to toxoplasmosis already (but ask your better half).

As others have pointed out in anything other than a v good chalet you are quite unlikely to be presented with much that should be a problem. The big advantage is being looked after, having a lie in, cake in th afternoons.

Best of luck.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

you do know babies are parasites on the mother , if you eat something wrong the baby will not suffer but by god the mother will, just avoid uncooked foods, raw cheeses, or anything that contain bacteria that in your normal self may upset you, but your pregnant self may get really ill, the baby will always be fine , . Just eat in other countries chalets or otherwise like you would at home, don't do the raw or smoked meats, don't do the fresh cheeses, tell the cook you are pregnant and everything must be cooked.......... then you will be fine. Pre(gnancy is not the special needs that it has recently become, it is pregnancy, mom will get sick if she eats crap,,,,,,, so mom for her own sake needs to just mind herself , eat cooked everything . Just say cook the crap out of it, and it will be fine. Enjoy the pregnancy, have fun, stop worrying,.

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@biddpyat, actually that isn't true. A friend miscarried after her husband contracted listeria which was passed on to the foetus. Mum was only mildly ill. Mum's can get infected with toxoplasma without symptoms, baby could be born blind and brain damaged. Whilst most unborn babies would be fine, some wouldn't be.
This is the current guidance for pregnant mums. http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-pregnant.aspx#close

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Pate isn't exactly expensive... Canape fodder even in cheap chalets. Prawns also relatively cheap.

Am not a vet and don't have cats - busy road so toxo exposure unlikely. OH does horses only...

Jammy thus far in that morning sickness barely noticeable, so pretty chilled. Just aware that very last minute guest with dietary needs isn't easy. Hopefully half board in Austria or Italy (or France) will come off but if not chalet board looks possible.

If snow remains limited for our window of opportunity (pre half-term) for economic and timing reasons we'll save the cash for childcare on the next holiday!

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I can confirm that pregnancy and chalet food are well tried & tested:
a friend of mine worked as a sous chef in a chalet in Courchevel W2011/12 and fell pregnant during the season wink

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Most people leave looking pregnant after eating here for a week Toofy Grin

After all it is free

@flangesax, similar to (In The) Club Med effect.

@Randomsabreur, there's loads of snow. Have a holiday, have a rest, do some skiing, be looked after.

For a last minute deal look at the chalets direct solutions room.

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Definitely going for a package including flights. As I speak fluent French and did GCSE German and Russian, I am deemed the linguist in all countries we visit as a couple (including Italy (not just sud Tirol). Accordingly any transport chaos or complication is deemed my job, not happening this time, TO can do it, and I will be prepared for chaos, with snacks and boredom breakers for me.

Where in Austria is good for "travelling" around a variety of pistes, preferably not needing more than 2 buses per day. Loved the Sella Ronda for travelling opportunities, happy on anything pisted and can deal effectively with end of day bumps, no off piste desires. Will have plenty of years without going too far in the future so would like a cruising, exploring experience as a final fling. If the place we stayed last year is still available when we have clearance to book, that would suit nicely. Dolomites do seem to do snowmaking very well!

Help!!

Pregnancy and chalet food

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