Q&A with Dr Zilberter

Question: What substitute for grapefruit can you advise for weight loss?

Answer: I cant think of any grapefruit substitute. However, there are diets not requiring grapefruit, why wouldn't you take a look, for example, at our (very successful and free for all) online Banta Diet? If it can interest you, visit Banta Diet and read about it. You can start from there just by clicking on the "start" navigation bar.

Question: What is nutritional value of black olives?

Answer: Here we go.

Black olives, 1 cup

Calories 141.48
Calories from Fat 115.87
Total Fat 12.87g
Saturated Fat 1.71g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1g
Monounsaturated Fat 9.51g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 1187.7mg
Potassium 11.21mg
Total Carbohydrate 8.19g
Dietary Fiber 4.04g
Protein 1.19g

% Daily Value

Vitamin A 10 %
Vitamin C 2 %
Calcium 12 %
Iron 25 %
Vitamin E 9 %
Niacin 0 %
Folate 0 %
Vitamin B-6 1 %
Magnesium 1 %
Zinc 2 %
Copper 16 %


Question: Which fruits and vegetables contain 1mg of zinc per serving?

Answer: It depends on serving size and this serving can be huge considering zinc content of fruits or vegetables: it'd vary from 2,5 kg (roughly 5 pounds) in case of apples to 156 g of avocado. Most vegetables' portions would be as big as almost 5 kg!


Question: Can sauna help to lose weight?

Answer: Sauna can definitely help losing weight but if you are talking about immediate effect, it's water weight. However, when used regularly, sauna can help improve cardio fitness by forcing your heart to race. Good cardio fitness allows you to exercise at higher intensities thus burning more fat but also it can chage your food preferences. Also, extreme temperature require extreme body reaction of adaptation that takes energy. Experimental studies showed that even slightly elevated skin temperature results in significant loss of calories.

Read more:

Exercise intensity influences food choices
Fitness tests at home, calculators
What can increase heat production to burn more fat?


Tanya Zilberter, PhD