When one thinks of the injuries sustained by baseball players, skin irritation is not necessarily the malady that jumps to mind. But for Josh Beckett, ace pitcher of the Boston Red Sox, it is exactly those sorts of concerns that have proven most debilitating over the years: Beckett has suffered from blisters on the fingers of his pitching hand that have landed him on the disabled list an astonishing six times since 2000.

That is a painful problem. It is an expensive problem. And it is a problem that can curtail seasons; it can derail careers; it can mean the difference between playing and not playing, winning and losing.

When you want to control your weight without feeling hunger pangs and at the same time reduce the visible signs of aging like wrinkles and sagging skin you need to concentrate even more on a 'youthful' diet. New research has demonstrated that you can slow down and even reverse some of the more obvious effects of aging - important when you realise how aging affects weight loss.

Look for appetizers and snacks with visual appeal that look good enough for a party and add wonderful salad combinations, soups, side dishes, and luscious desserts to create "youthful" concoctions. It really is easy to pack your system with anti-aging foods and food combinations. You don't have to become vegetarian, but meat eating creates more waste than vegetarian diets and that may in turn lead to heightened aging effects. When there is a lot of waste to be removed, it creates more wear and aging on the cells.