A botanist before he was a doctor, Andrew Weil thinks a lot about plants and the nature of nature when he considers human health. Drawn from his popular book of the same name, this 82-minute lecture (given at the New York Botanical Garden) touches on diet fads, the carbs vs. protein controversy, vitamin supplements, and fast food. Much of his advice is common sense: Eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, don't fall for extreme diets, pay attention to the kind of fats you eat, and increase your activity. But he complements these well-known principles with studies and examples, delivered in an entertaining way. The Australian study on fast-food fat he cites will send you speeding away from the local drive-through window, and the cultural observations he shares about the Japanese and French diets may convince you to finally try soy and eat smaller portions less frequently. Much of his advice is boiled down in concise screen graphics for easy note-taking. The only annoying thing about this tape is the frequent interruption by applause. Weil's delivery is charismatic without the distracting bursts of clapping to tell us so. --Kimberly Heinrichs

17.98