I mentioned in my last post Dr. Christina Economos of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. She’s worth noting as Economos was instrumental in a Somerville program that actually curbed weight gain in elementary school students and has gained nationwide recognition. Economos is also a product of the Worcester Public School system.

Economos says she’s now working with several school systems across the country and here in Mass. to create healthier environments for kids. This includes taking a real hard look at the types of foods we’re feeding them in schools and making changes that are systematic. They’re not putting kids on diets, they’re changing the types of foods and portions their putting in front of them. The efforts, she says, are also aimed at making these changes in inexpensive ways.

At Monday’s Healthy Communities Summit, I asked Economos if she’d ever been asked to do this for Worcesester Public Schools. She said she tried several times to make some inroads in Worcester, but hadn’t gotten very far. Former Mayor and now our Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, she said was very interested. She’d jump at the chance to work in the city where she received her education, she told me. She just needs an ”in.”

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