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Only 10 states require consent lessons in sex ed. A 12-year-old girl made it happen in Maryland.

Maeve Sanford-Kelly started the fight to include consent in sex ed classes when she was 12. That's right, 12.

In 2016, news stories of sexual assaulters like Brock Turner and Bill Cosby dominated the headlines, and the infamous recording of our current President bragging about grabbing women "by the pussy" was made public. The #MeToo movement had not yet gained full force, but its seeds had been planted.

Twelve-year-old Maeve Sanford-Kelly of Bethesda, Maryland witnessed it all, including the way sexual assault victims were treated. Disheartened, Sanford-Kelly decided to take action. She started locally, with the goal of making consent an early part of the Montgomery County sex ed curriculum.


Sanford-Kelly made her case before the Montgomery County Delegation with impressive poise.

Sanford-Kelly's mom, Ariana Kelly, a representative in the Maryland House of Delegates, helped her daughter navigate the civic process. Working with other young people, they drafted a bill to present to the Montgomery County Delegation. In December of 2016, Sanford-Kelly testified before local legislators to make the case for consent to be taught in seventh and tenth grade.

As part of her argument that consent education can't wait until high school, she said:

In seventh grade we're taught about abstinence, we're taught about HIV and AIDS prevention, and we're taught about STDs. We should learn about consent. As middle schoolers, we're constantly consuming media: the movies we see have sex scenes in them, the music we listen to has sexual themes, and you can see naked women anywhere. We hear stories, we read stories, about... Brock Turner and Bill Cosby... but there's not a disclaimer that says sexual assault is wrong. It doesn't say that sexual violence is bad or that rape is inexcusable. We have to be taught that. Before we are taught about pregnancy prevention and STDs, we have to be taught about consent.

Her testimony earned applause from the entire room.

Thinking bigger, the group took a similar bill to the state level. It died there, but their determination resurrected it.

Sanford-Kelly, her mom, and friends revised the local bill and took it to the Maryland House of Delegates. The bill died in the State Senate, however, due to lack of support from Republicans and conservative Democrats.

Sanford-Kelly was undeterred. "I was crushed," her mother told NBC Washington. "But Maeve said, 'We are coming back next year.'"  

And come back they did. Montgomery County and Baltimore City schools voluntarily implemented the bill in 2017. That's when the #MeToo movement really took hold, and the group received a rush of support for their state-level bill. It was approved by the House of Delegates and State Senate in early 2018, and signed into law by Governor Larry Hogan in May.

Maryland is now just one of 10 states that include consent as part of their state-mandated sex ed curriculum.

Sanford-Kelly, now 14, and her friends accomplished an awesome feat in persuading Maryland to include consent in sex education. But there's still much to be done across the nation.

Only 10 states, plus Washington, D.C., require lessons on consent to be included in the sex education curriculum. Considering what a huge part of the public discourse it has become, that's kind of unbelievable.

Consent is the very basic idea that sexual activities need to be welcome by both parties in order to take place. Why anyone would object to that fundamental concept of respect and bodily autonomy being taught in schools is unclear. If kids are old enough to learn about sex, they're well beyond the age to learn about consent.

This young lady and her friends deserve thanks for paving the way for more states to make consent part of required curriculum, and for showing us the power of young people making their voices heard.

Health

4 simple hacks to help you meet your healthy eating goals

Trying to eat healthier? Try these 4 totally doable tricks.

Photo by Anna Pelzer on Unsplash

Most of us want to eat healthier but need some help to make it happen.

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When it comes to choosing what to eat, we live in a uniquely challenging era. Never before have humans known more about nutrition and how to eat for optimal health, and yet we’ve never been more surrounded by distractions and temptations that derail us from making healthy choices.

Some people might be able to decide “I’m going to eat healthier!” and do so without any problem, but those folks are unicorns. Most of us know what we should do, but need a little help making it happen—like some simple hacks, tips and tricks for avoiding pitfalls on the road to healthier eating.

While recognizing that what works for one person may not work for another, here are some helpful habits and approaches that might help you move closer to your healthy eating goals.

man pulling chip out of a chip bagOur mouths loves chips. Our bodies not so much.Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

Goal: Snack on less junk food

Tip: Focus your willpower on the grocery store, not your home

Willpower is a limited commodity for most of us, and it is no match for a bag of potato chips sitting on top of the fridge. It’s just a fact. Channeling your willpower at the grocery store can save you from having to fight that battle at home. If you don’t bring chips into your house in the first place, you’ll find it a lot easier to reach for something healthier.

The key to successful shopping trips is to always go to the store with a specific list and a full stomach—you’ll feel much less tempted to buy the junky snack foods if you’re already satiated. Also, finding healthier alternatives that will still satisfy your cravings for salty or crunchy, or fatty foods helps. Sugar snap peas have a surprisingly satisfying crunch, apples and nut butter hit that sweet-and-salty craving, etc.

slice of cakeYou can eat well without giving up sweets completely.Photo by Caitlyn de Wild on Unsplash

Goal: Eat less sugar

Tip: Instead of “deprive,” think “delay” or “decrease and delight”

Sugar is a tricky one. Some people find it easier to cut out added sugars altogether, but that can create an all-or-nothing mindset that all too often results in “all.” Eating more whole foods and less processed foods can help us cut out a lot of ancillary sugar, but we still live in a world with birthday cakes and dessert courses.

One approach to dessert temptation is to delay instead of deprive. Tell yourself you can have any sweet you want…tomorrow. This mental trick flips the “I’ll just indulge today and start eating healthier tomorrow” idea on its head. It’s a lot easier to resist something you know you can have tomorrow than to say no to something you think you’ll never get to have again.

Another approach when you really want to enjoy a dessert at that moment is to decrease the amount and really truly savor it. Eat each bite slowly, delighting in the full taste and satisfaction of it. As soon as that delight starts to diminish, even a little, stop eating. You’ve gotten what you wanted out of it. You don’t have to finish it. (After all, you can always have more tomorrow!)

colorful fresh food on a plateA naturally colorful meal is a healthy meal.Photo by Anna Pelzer on Unsplash

Goal: Eat healthier meals

Tip: Focus on fresh foods and plan meals ahead of time

Meal planning is easier than ever before. The internet is filled with countless tools—everything from recipes to shopping lists to meal planning apps—and it’s as awesome as it is overwhelming.

Planning ahead takes the guesswork and decision fatigue out of cooking, preventing the inevitable “Let’s just order a pizza.” You can have a repeating 3-week or 4-week menu of your favorite meals so you never have to think about what you’re going to eat, or you can meal plan once a week to try new recipes and keep things fresh.

It might help to designate one day a week to “shop and chop”—getting and prepping the ingredients for the week’s meals so they’re ready to go in your fridge or freezer.

woman holding blueberries in her handsOrganic foods are better for the Earth and for us.Photo by andrew welch on Unsplash

Goal: Eat more organic/humanely raised food

Tip: Utilize the “dirty dozen” and “clean 15” lists to prioritize

Many people choose organic because they want to avoid pesticides and other potentially harmful chemicals. Organic food is also better for the planet, and according to the Mayo Clinic, studies have shown that organic produce is higher in certain nutrients.

Most people don’t buy everything organic, but there are some foods that should take priority over others. Each year, researchers from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) analyze thousands of samples of dozens of fruits and vegetables. From this data, they create a list of the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15” fruits and vegetables, indicating what produce has the most and least pesticide residue. These lists give people a good place to start focusing their transition to more organic foods.

To make organic eating even simpler, you can shop O Organics® at your local Albertsons or Safeway stores. The O Organics brand offers a wide range of affordable USDA-certified organic products in every aisle. If you’re focusing on fresh foods, O Organics produce is always grown without synthetic pesticides, is farmed to conserve biodiversity, and is always non-GMO. All animal-based O Organics products are certified humane as well. Even switching part of your grocery list to organic can make a positive impact on the planet and the people you feed.

Healthy eating habits don’t have to be all or nothing, and they don’t have to be complicated. A few simple mindset changes at home and habit changes at the grocery store can make a big difference.

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