Virginia Tech transfer eligible immediately for JMU
James Madison men’s basketball head coach Matt Brady announced Tuesday that incoming forward Gene Swindle, a transfer from Virginia Tech, has been cleared by the NCAA to compete immediately for the Dukes during the 2011-12 season.
“We’re absolutely delighted that Gene was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA and we’re eager to welcome him to our team and our program,” declared Brady after the ruling.
Typically NCAA rules require transfers from one Division I institution to another to sit out a season. However, Swindle, who stands at 6’11″ and 260 pounds, was limited to less than one minute of action in three years with the Hokies. After redshirting as a freshman in 2008-09, he suffered an injury to his knee thought to be career ending during a Nov. 17 game against UNC Greensboro. He had one rebound and a missed field goal, his only official career statistics. Swindle then spent the 2010-11 season as an undergraduate assistant coach at VT before deciding to transfer to JMU and give basketball one more shot. He will be a redshirt junior for the Dukes for the 2011-12 campaign.
“I’m just thrilled to be honest after sitting out last year with an injury,” commented Swindle. “Just the fact that I’ve been cleared by the doctors and cleared by the NCAA means the world to me after everything I’ve been through. JMU is a good fit for me. I like the team and the coach and feel like I fit in pretty well with the program.”
Brady added, “He’s a terrific addition to a team that is coming together nicely for JMU in 2011-12. Gene brings terrific character, work ethic and an enthusiastic love of the game to JMU and our basketball program. It was unfortunate that things didn’t work out for him health-wise at Tech. I know they liked him as a player and a person, but JMU became an excellent opportunity for him and for us.”
Swindle originally hails from Miami, Fla. and played scholastically for three years at Gulliver Prep following his freshman year at Westminster Christian School. He was a three-time team captain while leading the Raiders to three straight district titles. Swindle averaged 15.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game during his three years at Gulliver, highlighted by 18.0 points, 14.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks as a senior. In addition, he helped the Gulliver water polo team to a state championship as a junior and was a member of the student council. Swindle competed in football and volleyball in addition to basketball as a freshman at Westminster.
Salem nips Winston Salem
Three early runs proved to be enough for a trio of Sox hurlers, who held the visitors from Winston to one hit in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position in Salem’s 3-2 Tuesday triumph at LewisGale Field. Heiker Meneses accumulated half of Salem’s six hits all by himself, while Anthony Ranaudo, T.J. Hose, and Will Latimer combined to hold the explosive Dash offense to just two runs.
The Sox struck in the first inning against Winston starter Cameron Bayne, with Meneses drilling a one-out single and Kolbrin Vitek drawing a walk to set the table for Bryce Brentz. Salem’s cleanup hitter smashed a hard liner into left-center for an RBI single that moved Vitek to third, and Jorge Padron’s chopper to short plated Vitek, giving Salem the 2-0 lead.
Salem starter Anthony Ranaudo escaped a bases-loaded, two-out threat in the top of the second, and the Sox manufactured a two-out tally in the bottom of the frame. Josue Peley worked a walk, stole second with Derrik Gibson in an 0-2 hole, and came around to score as Gibson completed his gritty at-bat with a line-drive single to center. Up 3-0, the Sox had an advantage that would not be relinquished.
Winston chipped away at the Salem lead with one run off Ranaudo in the top of the third. Tyler Saladino led off with a double and scored two batters later on Juan Silverio’s single. Ranaudo held the Dash down during the remainder of his four-inning stint, allowing one run on three hits and four walks while striking out six.
Reliever T.J. Hose earned the victory, allowing just a two-out, solo homer to Nick Ciolli in his three-inning stint. Will Latimer earned the save, retiring six of the seven men he faced in the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the triumph. Hose improved to 1-1, picking up his first Carolina League win, while Latimer grabbed his eighth save.
The win kept Salem within five and a half games of first-place Kinston, who beat Frederick 3-1 in Maryland on Tuesday night. The victory was also Salem’s eighth straight triumph over Winston-Salem, as the Dash have not beaten the Sox since July 2 in North Carolina.
The four-game set continues with the penultimate contest on Wednesday, as Manny Rivera makes his second Carolina League start for the Sox. Southpaw Joe Serafin will deal opposite Rivera, with the first pitch slated for 7:05.
Does Perry help boost Obama?
New polling by Public Policy Polling shows Texas Gov. Rick Perry moving into the frontrunner role for the Republican Party presidential nomination. A benefactor to the Perry surge could be President Barack Obama.
Obama leads Perry in a national PPP poll by a 49 percent-to-43 percent margin. The same polling has Obama tied at 45 percent with the former GOP race frontrunner, Mitt Romney.
“Rick Perry’s momentum in the Republican field is the best thing that’s happened to Barack Obama lately,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “The president would have an easier time winning re-election against him than Mitt Romney.”
A key reason: the conservative firebrand Perry fares poorly with independent voters, who view him negatively (29 percent approval, 55 percent disapproval). Obama as a result has a 56 percent-to-32 percent lead over Perry among independents.
The PPP poll had Obama leading Michele Bachmann by eight points (50 percent to 42 percent), Herman Cain by 10 points (49 percent to 39 percent), and Sarah Palin by 13 points (53 percent to 40 percent).
Scott resigns from job at UR
The University of Richmond has announced that head football coach Latrell Scott has resigned his position at the University of Richmond. Offensive coordinator Wayne Lineburg has been named the interim head coach.
According to multiple media reports, Scott was charged with driving while intoxicated in Henrico County late Monday,
“Although the timing and circumstances are unfortunate, I am confident that Coach Lineburg, his staff, and the football student-athletes will have a successful 2011 season,” said UR athletics director Jim Miller.
Lineburg, 37, is entering his second year back on the Richmond staff after three seasons on the offensive staff at the University of Virginia. The Radford native was with the Spiders for three years from 2004-06 as the offensive coordinator and running backs coach under former head coach Dave Clawson.
Quake! Virginia hit by 5.8 magnitude temblor
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake with an epicenter near Mineral in Louisa County was reported on Tuesday, causing tremors as far away as New York, Ohio, and the Carolinas.
According to Dr. Alton Dooley, associate curator of paleontology at the Virginia Museum of Natural History, this was one of the largest earthquakes in Virginia’s recorded history, although seismic events in the area are not uncommon.
According to Dooley, the epicenter of this earthquake occurred in the Central Virginia Seismic Zone, an area active in seismic activity.
“The Central Virginia Seismic Zone is located throughout Virginia’s Piedmont region,” Dooley said. “Most of the faults were originally formed either during continental collisions that formed the Appalachian Mountains around 300 million years ago, or during the rifting that formed the Atlantic Ocean starting around 220 million years ago. While those events are in the distant past, the faults formed during those events are still present and rocks still occasionally move along those faults, causing earthquakes.”
At 5.8 in magnitude, today’s earthquake was one of the largest in Virginia’s recorded history, with the previously largest earthquake in Virginia’s history taking place in 1897 in Giles County and also measuring 5.8 in magnitude.
“This earthquake was more than 10 times stronger than the 2003 earthquake that was felt by many residents of Martinsville, Virginia,” Dooley said. “But even though this was a large earthquake for Virginia, it was small compared to earthquakes that occur in more seismically active zones. For example, the recent earthquake of the coast of Japan that caused extensive damage and a tsunami was more than 1000 times more powerful than today’s earthquake.”
The Virginia Museum of Natural History has a variety of educational programs for all ages that highlight Virginia’s diverse natural history, including geological studies.
“Today’s earthquake in Virginia presents a unique educational opportunity,” said Christy Deatherage, VMNH museum education coordinator. “As the natural history museum for the entire Commonwealth, the museum is a valuable resource for individuals throughout Virginia and beyond to learn about this and other natural events.”
VDOT assessing potential damage
The Virginia Department of Transportation today dispatched inspection teams to bridges and tunnels across the state soon after the 5.9 magnitude earthquake to assess any potential damage. Currently, no damage has been confirmed to bridges, tunnels or roads. Inspections are expected to continue for 24 hours.
All four tunnels in the Hampton Roads area (Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, Downtown Tunnel and Midtown Tunnel), as well as Virginia’s two mountain tunnels on Interstate 77 have been inspected with no sign of damage.
VDOT’s Culpeper and Fredericksburg Districts did report some minor damage to buildings.
VDOT’s bridges are designed in accordance with American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) standards, including earthquake loads for this region of the country. The agency conducts between 11,000 and 12,000 bridge inspection each year. VDOT has more than 100 staff dedicated to bridge inspections.
Salem opens series at Winston-Salem with W
Two Tyler Saladino errors proved costly for the Dash, helping the Sox score three unearned runs in a 6-3 series-opening victory on Monday night at LewisGale Field. Salem trailed 3-1 after five, but rallied for three to take to the lead in the last of the sixth and added two more unearned insurance tallies in the last of the eighth. The triumph snapped Salem’s four-game losing skid and moved the Red Sox back within five and a half games of the division lead with 13 games to play in the regular season.
In the pivotal sixth inning, Dash starter Matt Wickswat walked Heiker Meneses and yielded back-to-back singles to Kolbrin Vitek and Bryce Brentz, with the latter driving in a run to slice a two-run deficit in half. Wickswat departed after striking out Jorge Padron for the first out, but both of Justin Cassel’s inherited runners scored on Peter Hissey’s two-out grounder up the middle. With the baserunners at second and third, Saladino scooped up Hissey’s roller but tossed errantly to first, allowing both Vitek and Brentz to score. Hissey was credited with a single and one RBI, with Brentz plated as a result of the throwing error.
In the eighth, Salem had runners at first and second when Saladino once again misplayed a Hissey grounder, bobbling a perfect double-play ball that could have ended the inning. Instead, the bases were loaded, and Salem added two crucial insurance runs on Shannon Wilkerson’s sac fly and Josue Peley’s RBI single off Cassel.
The eighth-inning pair helped Salem avoid a tense ninth inning with Jeremiah Bayer on the mound. Having retired 11 of the first 12 he faced in relief of Drake Britton, Bayer yielded a two-out triple to Saladino on a deep-drive that ticked off Hissey’s mitt near the warning track in straight-away center. Thanks to the insurance runs, Saladino’s presence at third was rendered significantly less important, and Bayer whiffed Jared Mitchell to finish the contest, improving to 7-2 with four scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
Salem’s early 1-0 lead, assumed when Vitek singled to drive in Wilkerson in the third, was quickly erased when Winston rallied for two runs in the fourth. Britton walked Juan Silverio to begin the frame and Ian Gac hammered a double down the left-field line, moving Silverio to third. The tying run scored on Mike Blanke’s RBI single, while the go-ahead run crossed on Kyle Colligan’s two-out, RBI single. The Dash added another against Britton with Gac driving in Saladino in the fifth to take a 3-1 lead, but Winston’s offense would go quiet the rest of the way.
Britton left with Salem trailing 3-1, but dodged his league-leading 14th loss because of Salem’s mighty comeback. Britton surrendered three runs on seven hits in five frames, striking out two and walking five.
Vitek and Peley each collected multiple hits for the Salem Sox, with Vitek collecting his 41st multi-hit night of the season. Brentz, Hissey, and Wilkerson joined the aforementioned multi-hit duo with one RBI apiece in the Red Sox win, Salem’s seventh straight over Winston-Salem dating back to July 3.
The Red Sox will go for their eighth in a row over the Dash on Tuesday evening at 7:05, with Anthony Ranaudo scheduled to tangle with Cameron Bayne.
BC hires new VP of institutional advancement
A lifelong educator, businessman and fund-raising professional has been hired by Bridgewater College to lead its office of institutional advancement.
Bruce D. Smith Jr., of West Chester, Pa., assumed his duties as vice president of institutional advancement at Bridgewater on Aug. 23.
“I am confident that Bruce will bring to the college what we need most at this time,” said Bridgewater President George Cornelius. “He is a strategic thinker who works out of a proactive paradigm, has a deep passion for education and has high standards and expectations. In short, he will help develop the office of institutional advancement into one of the strongest functions on campus.”
In leading the advancement team, Smith will build and strengthen the organization, develop strategies and contribute to the work of the President’s Council.
“I am immensely excited to again be part of a vibrant and committed academic environment,” Smith said. “Fostering increased engagement in the life of the institution on the part of alumni, board members, parents and friends of Bridgewater is essential to the college’s ability to provide strong academic programs and to enhance the breadth and depth of experiences available to the students.”
Smith is a native of Swarthmore, Pa., who earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va. In 1965 he joined the faculty at The Westtown School, a co-educational college-prep boarding school near Philadelphia.
In addition to teaching, he introduced computer technology to the school, developed a computer science curriculum and designed and implemented a school-wide flexible modular class schedule system.
In 1975 Smith assumed responsibility for Westtown’s development office. While in this position, in addition to his responsibility for the annual fund and capital gifts program, he designed and headed a team that implemented a computer-based alumni records and gifts database and reporting system. He also served on the long-range planning and development subcommittees for The Westtown School.
In 1982, Smith left Westtown to design and implement hardware and software solutions using microprocessor technology. He also worked at The West Company, helping to design control and monitoring systems for the company’s machinery products division.
In 1996, Smith formed Genesis Machinery Products where he served as president and director of technology. Over the next 10 years the company became a premier supplier of machinery, support and technology to the pharmaceutical industry worldwide.
Smith and his wife, Zinta, lived in West Chester, Pa., prior to moving to Bridgewater. They have two grown sons.
Guild quilts exhibited at Virginia Quilt Museum
In the fast moving world of the Internet and social media, quilters are gathering in bees and guilds as they did more than two hundred years ago to stitch, chat, be inspired by one another’s work. Oh, they also gather on the Internet, sharing information in blogs and social websites.
“Unity in Diversity – A Collection from Country School Quilters”, at the Virginia Quilt Museum, will give you some insight into this community. Country School Quilters, organized in 1989, is one of seven chapters of the Richmond Quilters’ Guild. The group of about forty-five members meets in Montpelier one evening a month. Meetings offer a program on a quilting topic or technique, sharing of quilts completed or being worked on and chatting and sharing just like the women sitting around a quilt frame on the frontier of this country.
Exhibit curator, Estelle Porter, said the “quilts encompass many styles and techniques such as Baltimore Album, whole cloth, surface embellished with beads, found objects, crystals, Angelina fibers, ribbons, painting and drawing, dyeing, discharge dyeing, resists, thread painting, photo transfers and couched thread scraps. Some quilts are entirely hand made.
Many are machine quilted. Some quilts use traditional patterns while others are completely original. Several quilts have won prizes and/or have been exhibited in national competitions and several quilters have been published in national magazines.”
There are over 100 quilt guilds in Virginia. They may have as few as ten to over a hundred members each. A guild may meet morning, afternoon or evening depending on other obligations of group members. In addition, there are many “bees,” groups of quilters who meet more casually, but regularly to sew, learn and support one another. It is safe to say there are thousands of quilters creating art and household items at any time in Virginia.
The exhibit is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, many Virginia Quilt Guilds and individuals. “Unity in Diversity” can be seen at the Virginia Quilt Museum from Sept. 14 through Dec. 17. The Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm at 301 South Main Street, Harrisonburg. Parking in the municipal lot behind the museum is free.
Phone 540-433-3818 for more information and for group tours.
Paul Egerman: Proud to invest in America
I love America, and have proudly invested in America. I have invested by building successful businesses employing thousands of American workers. And I have invested in our country by paying taxes.
But our nation loses $100 billion a year to tax dodging by some of our largest corporations and wealthiest people. That’s a trillion dollar hole in our national treasury over the next decade unless we act now to plug it.
Tax dodging companies are disinvesting in our country – not investing in it.
Many U.S. multinational companies use a gimmick called “transfer pricing” – shifting patents to their offshore subsidiaries, for example – in order to pretend they’ve earned their profits in a tax haven like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda or Luxembourg, even though their operations there may be little more than a mail box. What they’re really doing is transferring their U.S. profits offshore and transferring their tax responsibilities to the rest of us.
In this global version of a shell game, corporations move their profits to offshore shell company subsidiaries; the U.S. parent company reports to the IRS that they’ve made almost no profits, or even lost money on their U.S. operations. These companies are passing the buck to other taxpayers and robbing our national treasury of funds we need.
It sickens me that businesses like mine responsibly paid taxes at the rate of 35 percent on millions of dollars in profits while companies like GE would pay zero percent on billions of dollars in profits. Even worse, they had so many tax loopholes and tax subsidies that Uncle Sam actually owed them money. From 2008 to 2010, GE had $7.7 billion in pretax U.S. profits and $4.7 billion in tax refunds, giving it a negative 61.3% tax rate, reports the tax experts at Citizens for Tax Justice.
We need to ask what kind of country we want to have and who is going to pay for it.
I have been fortunate to live the American Dream. I know my success is due to many factors. I know, for example, as a software entrepreneur, that I would have had no business at all without the government assistance I received for my college education, or the government research that led to the Internet.
It’s obscene that computer and internet companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple and Cisco are part of a coalition clamoring for a tax holiday to “repatriate” profits they shifted to tax havens to avoid U.S. taxes.
It’s obscene that so many members of Congress are willing to legislate austerity for American workers, small businesses and retirees while leaving the door open for big corporations to dodge taxes through tax havens.
We all benefit from public services, infrastructure and research paid for by tax dollars – education and public transportation, the Centers for Disease Control and food safety inspections, roads, bridges and waterways, the Small Business Administration and economic development programs, police and courts, and the public safety nets, from unemployment insurance to food stamps, that so many depend on in these hard economic times.
Instead of reducing our debt by cutting vital services, we need to close two big tax deficits – the tax haven deficit and the deficit from the Bush tax cuts for the affluent. Each is worth a trillion dollars over the next decade.
The Stop Tax Havens Abuse Act introduced recently in Congress by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) would close the loopholes that reward those who disinvest in America and dodge taxes to unfairly boost their corporate treasuries. It should be a no-brainer solution in deficit reduction.
It is simply outrageous that we would ask unemployed and disabled Americans and Medicare and Social Security recipients to sacrifice more while continuing to shower tax savings on millionaires and billionaires who have a larger share of the nation’s income than any time since the 1920s.
It’s time for Congress to plug the loopholes that allow our largest corporations to avoid billions of dollars in taxes, and it’s time for Congress to ask our wealthiest individuals, including people like me, to also pay our fair share of taxes. After all, American corporations and wealthy individuals should be proud to support our country and invest in its future.
Paul Egerman, a software entrepreneur, is co-founder and former CEO of the medical information technology company eScription.
Robert Hurt: Washington has a spending problem, not a ‘We don’t tax people enough’ problem
Every day our office receives hundreds of phone calls, e-mails, faxes, and letters from people across the 5th District regarding the pressing issues that affect Central and Southside Virginians and all Americans.
Hearing from and listening to constituents on a daily basis is a constant reminder that our top priority in Washington is to serve the people of the 5th District and the people of this country.
To encourage constituents to communicate with their elected officials through new social media outlets, YouTube launched a program called YouTube Town Hall, which allows constituents to pose questions on the most important issues facing our nation, and provides an online platform for Members of Congress to film direct video responses.
This past week, I participated in a YouTube Town Hall. In my video, Washington Has A Spending Problem, I outlined the gravity of our current debt crisis and that we must change course to get our country on more sound fiscal and economic footing to grow our economy, create jobs, and preserve this great nation for our children and grandchildren.
Given the President’s announcement this past week that he wants to push another round of failed, taxpayer-funded stimulus, our spending-driven debt crisis and the need to get our fiscal house in order continue to be issues that must be addressed.
You can watch Washington Has A Spending Problem by visiting hurt.house.gov and you can read the transcript below:
Washington has a spending problem, plain and simple. Since President Obama took office, the national debt has increased by 3.7 trillion dollars, and now stands at over 14 trillion dollars – higher than any time in American history and nearly equal to the size of our entire economy.
With a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit, we are borrowing over 40 cents of every dollar we spend, leaving each American citizen with more than 46 thousand dollars of debt owed to our creditors.
This reckless government spending has very real and negative consequences for the people of Virginia’s 5th District and all Americans. The economic uncertainty it causes is stifling job creation, and Washington’s continued fiscal mismanagement threatens the very future of our country.
That is why setting budget priorities—and more importantly, passing a budget—is necessary now more than ever.
As we work to get our fiscal house in order to help grow the economy and create jobs, the last thing we need is job-destroying tax hikes on our families and small businesses. With far too many 5th District Virginians and Americans out of work, we should not punish taxpayers for Washington’s fiscal irresponsibility at a time when they can least afford it.
Washington has a spending problem, not a ‘we don’t tax people enough’ problem, and for the sake of our children and grandchildren, we must rectify this debt crisis by making the tough but necessary choices to force Washington to live within its means, so that we can preserve the American dream for future generations.
If you need any additional information on these or any other issues, please visit my website at
Robert Hurt is a United States congressman.
Interactive Fridays in Downtown Staunton
Friday evenings in Downtown Staunton will go interactive on August 26 when the Staunton Downtown Development Associationhosts seven weeks of free live music, art, theater, dance, and games. Activities will be scattered throughout the downtown district every Friday night from 6-9pm through October 7. Friday Nights Downtown is part of the SDDA’s Extended Hours Program, a promotion that encourages later evening shopping and dining through incentives. More than 30 stores and restaurants are participating in 2011.
Friday Nights Downtown is being produced this year by Ampersand Arts, a local non-profit production company known for staging innovative plays, improvisation and dance events. Staunton Parks and Recreation will be contributing to the activities, as well as many local performers. Entertainment is free and family-friendly.
SDDA Executive Director Julie Markowitz has this to say about this year’s Friday Nights Downtown:
“The SDDA is delighted to partner with Ampersand Arts and Staunton Parks and Recreation to provide a truly unique entertainment option. These organizations definitely have a finger on the pulse of a segment of our creative community we would like to showcase. We believe their participation will enrich and expand this increasingly popular downtown program and bring the community together in fun and interactive ways. Our slogan, ‘You never know what you might find Friday Nights Downtown’ aptly describes the creatively eclectic talent that always turns out to support this program.”
This is the third year for Friday Nights Downtown. The SDDA has partnered with a wide variety of local non-profit arts organizations and performers to add a festive atmosphere to Staunton’s historic downtown. Visit www.stauntondowntown.org for more information.
Friday Nights Downtown Entertainment Schedule
Aug. 26
- Hoop de Ville —Beverley St.
- Quentin Clark—Beverley St.
- Gabby Haze—Beverley St.
- Fata Morgana Belly-Dancing —Roaming
- Sidewalk Chalk Activity—The Wharf
- Murder Brothers—Sunspots Parking Lot
Sept. 2
- The Judy Chops—Beverley St.
- Streethoppers Improv—Roaming
- Photo Stand—Beverley St. & the Wharf
- LIVE Pictionary —The Wharf
- Sterling Olson—Sunspots Parking Lot
- Queen City Fire Circus ~ The Wharf 9pm
Sept. 9
- Maugy—Beverley St.
- Hoop de Ville—Beverley St.
- Let Us Rec Your Life—Beverley St.
- Quentin Clark—Beverley St.
- Rocktown Rollers—Roaming
- Giant Scrabble—The Wharf
- Queen City Fire Circus ~ The Wharf 9pm
Sept. 16
- Scavenger Putt—Beverley St.
- Bolt Swiftpace—Beverley St.
- LIVE Pictionary—The Wharf
- Concrete Dust Bunnies—Sunspots Parking Lot
Sept. 23
- Sidewalk Chalk Activity—Beverley St.
- Let Us Rec Your Life—Beverley St.
- Jason Ring—Beverley St.
- Butoh Dance—The Wharf
- Queen City Fire Circus ~ The Wharf 9pm
Sept. 30
- MBC Theater Group—Roaming
- Streethoppers Improv—Roaming
- Photo Stand—Beverley St. & The Wharf
- Queen City Fire Circus ~ The Wharf 9pm
Oct. 7
- Scavenger Putt—Beverley St.
- Let Us Rec Your Life—Beverley St.
- Ethan Hawkins—Beverley St.
- MBC Theater Group—Roaming
- Giant Scrabble—The Wharf
- Queen City Fire Circus ~ The Wharf 9pm
Entertainment acts and times subject to change without notice. These are rain or shine events.
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Dinner Diva: Extreme Makeover-Lunchbox Edition
Posted on August 23, 2011 · 1 Comment
It’s time for a makeover! And after those Lunchables, I want you to dispose of any fruit roll-ups, fruit gushers, and any other gummy fruit snack. Get rid of the Trix yogurt, I don’t care how often the commercial tries to convince you that “Trix are for kids.” And please, no bologna sandwiches on white bread. If I don’t even know everything they put in that so-called “meat” then it’s something that should be left untouched. And as far as chips are concerned, we should all know better with all those saturated oils.
So what should you put in your children’s lunch? Easy, I’ll give you a list of substitutes for all the items that I dismissed.
1. Instead of all those over-processed gummy fruit snacks, give your kids real fruit! Throw in a banana or some berries. Whatever fruit is in season and on sale in the store! That’ll stock your kid’s belly full of antioxidants and natural sugars that’ll quench the sweet tooth.
2. Trix yogurt is more of a trick than a treat. It’s only full of artificial food coloring, sugar, and artificial flavors. All of which are going to keep your child craving other artificial and sugary foods and make them more lazy and lethargic instead of energetic and happy the way kids are supposed to be. So grab the natural yogurts. It’s easy to tell them apart because they’ll have labels like “real fruit” attached to them. Always double-check the ingredients to confirm that, however.
3. And when you pack a sandwich, avoid white bread and mystery meats. Look for breads that aren’t bleached. I wrote an article on how to pick the right bread if you want to look that up for a more detailed guide (http://savingdinner.com/articles/truth-bread/). Also, use meat that doesn’t have any additives. How do you know if it has additives? The same way you know anything does, check the ingredients! I can’t stress enough how important it is to know what you’re consuming instead of blindly picking something off the shelf.
4. An easy substitute for chips would be whole grain crackers (again, check ingredients), or veggies! Even if you do opt for the crackers, I would include some sort of vegetable regardless. Your children are going to keep growing and developing all the way through high school and are always needing antioxidants and the vitamins found in vegetables. Don’t forget to keep it fun and colorful!
So there you go! Always remember that there is a healthy substitute for any nutritionally lacking lunchbox item.
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with dinner diva, leanne ely, lunchbox, school