I have type two diabetes and must limit the amount of carbohydrates I consume. That pretty much means I get only a small taste of pastas, fruits, potatoes, breads, sweets and other baked goods. The equivalent of three regular slices of bread is all the carbs I can have in an entire meal. Meats, cheeses and non starchy vegetables are the core of my diet.

Any suggestions for restauirants and dishes I should try so I won't feel that I am being deprived?

Just about any restaurant in Italy will serve meat, cheese, and vegetables. You'll find tons of choices where ever you go. I've never had a problem in a restaurant getting these foods. Things to try are too numerous to name - exactly the things you find at home: chicken every way, osso bucco, pork cutlet, fish, fish, fish, etc.

Here's a tip...if you want specific restaurant recommendations then you'll have to say where you will be visiting. There's no point in someone recommending a restaurant in Bologna if you're not going to Bologna.

The way the menus are set up in Italy you can easily just order a meat course that does not have sides. You order side dishes (contorni) separately so you can order something like sauteed spinach, which should not be too much carb. Also, especially in Tuscany, cooked shelled white beans are common. I don't know how that fits. They also may have a cheese course, sometimes with nuts, which is of course intended as an after-the-entree choice, but you could ask for it anyway

Italian restaurants are very helpful when it comes to people on limited diets because of their health. Get a card that tells in Italian that you have type two diabetes and show it to the waiter.

I was in Italy for 6 weeks a couple of years ago and on a much lower-carb diet than you are (I didn't even eat the equivalent of 3 slices of bread per day, never mind per meal). I never ran out of things to eat and ate very, very well.

It would take days to list the things you'll find to eat, so I won't. Just know that there is delicious protein around every corner. This won't be an issue.

Keith, I have a family member who has diabetes two also and he has gone to Italy many times. I don't know any of the restaurants that he has eaten at over the years of course but I sure agree with adrienne's comments. And my experience has always been that in Italy the pasta that is served is much smaller portions compared to the US.

Just eat like you do at home and enjoy your time in wonderful Italy!

You will have no trouble at all as long as you eat in restaurants and not pizza joints. it Italy pasta is a first course, not the main dish - and you can avoid the course completely or have a salad or antipasto and then meat/chicken/fish and vegetables. No need to eat any bread/heavy carbs at all if you don;t want to.

If you can have a little pasta, then share a first course with someone and just have a few mouthfuls.

Before I was gluten-free I rarely ate pasta in Italy because there were so many things to try on the menus that pasta was the last thing I needed to eat. So don't even give it a second thought. It will not be an issue, I promise.
One of my favorite italian dishes is arugula with beef carpaccio or bresaola and parmesan. A little squeeze of lemon and some of that beautiful olive oil and I'm in heaven!

Northern Italy is a big place. Where are you going?

PS: I ask because you asked what dishes you could try so you wouldn't be deprived, not just so you could eat.

Different regions of northern Italy have very different climates and therefore very different specialities. Some regions have fantastic cheese, others have mediocre cheese. It is very hard to get meat dishes along the northern Mediterranean coast, but you won't feel deprived if you focus on the foods from sea that are very special to that region. Do you eat fish and seafood? Do you eat eggs?

Milan, Lake Como, Genoa. It wasn't clear in my post, but I wasn't thinking of people sugesting specific restaurants, so much as types.

It seemed that every recomendation or review I was finding was talking about bakeries, sweets, pizza & pasta and I was getting nervous.

Yes I eat eggs and meat (including cuts some Americans might avoid). I love seafood. I make a point of having fruits de mer every trip to France or the UK.

Thanks

You will have no problem. There are many wonderful meat dishes in Italy. Pork, especially is done in great ways, both wild boar and domestic pig.

Not only is there meat and cheese but also salad (which wouldn't hurt anything and has been mentioned above) as well as beans, lentils, etc, and eggs.

How much EXERCISE are you planning on getting? There's plenty of opportunity to do that, too, as you roll right on BY the pastry shops

Keith,

Genoa will be able to offer you no end of marvelous fish and seafood specialties, and if you have an adventurous palate, please do not miss the local anchovies. In addition to impeccably fresh whole fish, usually prepared with olives, you can find seafood soups that are exquisite, and won't leave you feeling deprived if you see others eating pasta with seafood sauce. The spicy version of these "zuppa" are sometimes listed on menus as "guazetto."

If you can eat beans, the Genovese eat "farinata," which is very filling chickpea torte, baked in a large round pizza pan, that has not a scrap of flour in it. It is made solely of ground chickpeas, olive oil and salt. That's it. You will usually find it near the port in fry shops known as "friggitoria," , and you can also find versions that have cheese with them.

The Genovese have a carb-free specialty that you might want to try if you see them on menus. One is called "cima", and it is a pounded shoulder of veal rolled around a filling chopped eggs, veg, peas and organ meat. It is sliced thin and served cold.

Lastly, the Genovese love to eat tripe -- and since I don't, I am not sure how they eat it. I think your only danger would be the inclusion of cubed potatoes in a tripe stew.

Around Lago di Como, there is air-dried and smoked fish as well as fresh, and the local mountain mushrooms are often available from September through spring. Duck is often a luxurious specialty on the menu, and you can find special salamis made of goose. Air-dried beef (bresaola) is often a marvelous entree when served over arugala. Cheese and nuts (especially walnuts) are often of very high quality and make a great dessert (or picnic lunch) with mountain apples or pears.

The opulent Milanese specialty of osso buco -- braised veal shank -- usually comes seated atop of pool of polenta, but it is not at all uncommon for even Milanese to eat the meat and the marrow, and leave the polenta behind. (I always do.) The Milanese like veal sweetbreads and in Milan you can find extraordinary cheeses, which they often pair with fruit (like pears and Gorgonzola). They also use taleggio chese from nearby Bergamo to make lovely omeletts (frittata).

Have a delicious trip!

PS: In weight conscious Milan, you will find a lot of restaurants offering turkey breast, thin sliced roast beef and lots of sushi bars!

One more tip:

Try to eat local. The northern Italians eat much less pork than other Italians. The Genovese/Ligurians eat next to none, and you will only find wild boar in salamis. The Lombardians around Milan and Lake Como have access to such good grazing territory (unusual in Italy), you'll find beef and veal much more readily than you will pork. Of course you will see prosciutto on menus, but save that for a trip to Parma (and you will never eat Parma proscuitto outside of Parma again).

Local cuisine is really based on the freshest ingredients, and has a long and distinguished history. It goes with the climate. You'll do better if you stick to that rather than eat "Italian" food while in Italy. And you'll digest things better too.

(That said, Milan is a big capital city that has a few regional restaurants specializing in the cooking of other regions. If you really don't want Milanese food, go to a well-regarded restaurant that specializes in the recipes of another region. Don't just order a pork chop or proscuitto from any old menu in Milan.)

Thank you all for the help.

The "cima" sounds good, though my spouse probably won't sample my dish. The bresaola will probably apeal to both of us.

I can do just a little of the beans.

Fortunately my wife doesn't complain too much when I ask for a tiny taste of the things she eats

Don't skip the farinata in Genoa because it is chickpeas. It won't give you the rumbles.

zeppole - what kind of cheese for the farinata?