U Prep students discuss their dietary restrictions

Maren Johnson: Gluten-free

No bread, no pizza, no cereal, and no pasta. These restrictions are the result of celiac disease, which affects approximately one in every 100 people around the world. It’s not a fad, it is a hereditary disease.

Junior Maren Johnson has celiac disease, which means that she can’t eat gluten, wheat, barley, rye or malt. Unfortunately, these ingredients are in a lot of common foods.

“Wheat is in almost everything,” Johnson said. “[I can’t have] bread, cake or cookies.”

With a diet as restrictive as hers, it seems as though it would be hard for Johnson to find enough food, especially at school. However, Johnson said that, “it used to be [hard] finding food but now that eating gluten-free is a fad diet, it’s totally fine.”

“The problem,” Johnson said, “is cross-contamination, basically when gluten-free food is cooked with other gluten foods. I get fatigue, joint issues and really bad stomach aches,” she said.

One of the difficult parts of having celiac disease is that people assume that Johnson is gluten-free by choice.

“I get a lot of looks and sighs from people when I say I have to eat gluten free, because they think it’s a diet and I’m being difficult, which I’m not,” Johnson said.

Not only does this seem insensitive, but it can also be unsafe for her. If someone believes that she is voluntarily eating gluten-free, they may not be as careful.

Johnson said, “They think it doesn’t matter as much as it does. [But] it really makes a difference when they’re not being careful.”

Lily Parker & Maya: Vegan

Senior Lily Parker and freshman Maya are both vegan by choice. This means “no animal products of any kind. So no milk, eggs, meat [or] honey.”

“I was vegetarian for a while, [but] I never really liked any dairy products anyway. I’m [also] an animal rights activist, so I decided to be a vegan for that,” Maya said.

Parker has been a vegan for five years now. She admits that at the beginning she wasn’t sure what to eat, but now she has gotten the hang of finding food. It also helps that the vegan community in Seattle has grown over the past few years.

“There’s a lot of options now. Things are really improving so it’s not that difficult for me anymore,” Parker said.

As for the Commons, the choices have improved over the years as well. The staff has begun to label the foods, noting the specific allergens in each item.

“Still, it’s not ideal and I don’t think it’s ever going to be,” Parker said.

The problem is, there isn’t a designated place that always has vegan food.

“[Vegans] will walk around for five or ten minutes most days, just trying to figure out what to [get],” Parker said.

Even so, there are only one or two options to choose from besides a bowl of fruit or a salad. Due to the lack of choices, Parker and Maya agree that they eat out more than they would if they weren’t vegan.

“It’s just a lot easier outside U Prep to find stuff that’s vegan,” Parker said, “[as it is] much more easily labeled and stuff.”

By: Annie Cohen