Anatomical exhibition exposes what's inside our bodies

DR. GUNTHER von Hagens' "Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies," which opened last Friday at the Franklin Institute Science Museum, blew me away!

I've been to the exhibit twice already and I'm still in awe of its magnificence, from the spectacular basketball player to the controversial pregnant mother. These are real human cadavers that have been preserved in plastic, with layers of skin and muscle cut away to expose the inner workings of the human anatomy.

I haven't stopped talking about it. Never have I been so excited about a museum exhibition.

Perhaps it is my fascination with the body and health? I don't know, but I do know that I left this exhibit having even more respect, love, and appreciation for my good health and strong body.

It is obvious to me that von Hagens created this 22,000-square-foot masterpiece to educate us about our individual magnificence. Unlike any other exhibit, you will learn about anatomy, physiology and health by viewing real human cadavers that have been preserved through the astonishing process called "plastination," where plastic replaces other body fluids to make the cadavers rigid.

This is real health education, an up-close-and-personal display of the relationship between unhealthy and healthy lifestyles. About 200 individual specimens were used to compare healthy and diseased organs, as well as 25 artistically posed whole-body plastinates with organs intact.

If you thought fitness and health was all about six-pack abs, being a size 2, or bulging biceps, you're dead wrong! The Body Worlds exhibit is proof positive that beauty, fitness, and indeed health are deeper than the skin. What you can do and what's happening inside your body are far more important than what your body looks like outside.

Locomotor system

You know the song, "the knee bone's connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone's connected to the hip bone," etc. Well, seeing the human skeleton with its more than 200 bones and 100 moveable joints clearly brings new meaning to the saying,

"we're only as strong as our weakest link."

All movement is made possible because of the skeleton, our locomotor system that consists of bones, muscles, and joints, making it possible for us to move and support our body. Besides its other vital roles, you see unmistakably that the skeleton is designed to protect our precious internal organs.

Additionally, seeing a knee and hip replacement prosthesis was a real eye-opener.

The brain

The best computer in the universe is no competition for our fabulous brain. The brain is master of the entire ship, controlling all thoughts and every movement. The brain, a glucose hog weighing a mere 2.8 pounds (2 percent of total body weight) demands 20 percent of your blood supply. It even shrinks if you don't use it. Whew, that's some heavy stuff.

Got a cigarette?

Every day when I'm walking downtown I see plenty of people puffing on cancer sticks. The svelte, obese, and sometimes even "fit-looking" individuals are standing outside office buildings smoking. Whatever healthy habits you may have, all the benefits are canceled out if you SMOKE!

The sight of a smoker's lung, ugly, shriveled, and black, compared to the pinkish white non-smoker's lung should be motivation enough to stop any smokers on the spot.

Checked your cholesterol lately?

The sight of the dissected aortas diseased by arteriosclerosis repulsed me and reminded me to at once get my cholesterol checked. Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. Seeing the disgusting, shriveled-up and unhealthy aorta alongside a clean, normal one made me think, perhaps it's time to become a vegan! You could significantly lower your chances of getting high cholesterol and heart disease by eating a primarily vegetable-based diet. Just say NO to saturated and trans fats.