While still commonly used in Asian cuisine, legumes have fallen out of favour somewhat in the United States. This is unfortunate because legumes are rich in a variety of minerals, such as molybdenum and folate, that are often lacking in the typical western diet.

Legumes may also have benefits for those looking to lose weight as several studies have drawn a link between diets rich in legumes such as chickpeas, lentils, and beans, and reductions in body weight.

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Women who eat quickly have a higher average BMI than slower eaters according to the results of a New Zealand study published this month.

The research, led by Dr Caroline Horwath of the Human Nutrition Department at the University of Otago, involved the study of more than 1500 middle aged New Zealand women who were asked to report on their typical eating speed using a 5 point scale ranging from “very slow” to “very fast”.

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Choosing foods with a high water content can be a great way to aid weight loss because these foods are very low in calories but still make us feel full. This is due to the fact that water adds volume to foods but contains no calories itself.

A significant amount of data from laboratory and epidemiological studies exists to suggest diets that focus on foods with a low energy density are associated with lower energy intakes, improved diet quality, and long term reductions in body weight compared to other diets.

As a general rule, fruits and vegetables have a very high water content compared to other foods and as a result you can eat large amounts without consuming very many calories at all. For example a cup of strawberries (150g in weight) has just 49 calories, compare that to a slice of white toast with butter (37g in total weight) which has 150 calories. Both result in similar feelings of fullness however the strawberries have just 1/3 the calories.

The following table lists the 20 fruits and vegetables with the highest water content.

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