Dear Readers,

This book was written by upper-class undergraduate students at Clemson University in the course HLTH 4150 Obesity and Eating Disorders.  The goals of this project were to meet the course learning objective of understanding weight issues and to develop a product for the general public to use as a resource for these health conditions.  The class decided to use the socio-ecological model as a framework to show the complex components of this issue.

We are making this book accessible for everyone for free to help promote behavior change.  All chapters were researched using only reliable sources and cited in APA format. Each student selected their topic, created review questions, and a summary infographic.  All of the students are first-time authors with little to no experience about publishing a piece of work, and throughout this class, students learned about the details of the publication process, how to find images and videos that are available to be used for a published piece of work, and how to design and edit a book.

The HTLH 4150 students found this nontraditional class method to be rewarding and a refreshing alternative to traditional lecture-based formats. Enjoy their work and take their suggestions to advocate the prevention of weight-related conditions.

Thank you for your time,

Becky Tugman, MS, CHES
Lecturer, Public Health Sciences

PS – Please check out our other book on Men’s Health.