Have you ever watched those late-night infomercials touting the newest piece of exercise equipment? Personally, I'm not a big fan of home workout equipment. Most of them limit what they can do for your body and they just take up so much space! But sometimes you have to wonder ... is the latest, greatest machine really what you need to get a toned, firm body? Or is it just bound to become a dusty, expensive, clothing rack in your bedroom?

Some fitness experts rated six fitness fads to see if they're really as great as they say they are:

• Skorcher. This claims to be the world's best butt exercise, but it garnered mixed reviews from the experts. One said that all of the exercises the Skorcher offers can be done effectively without the machine. Another, however, thought it could really rev up your workout.
• Slanted Riser. These risers that angle your step aerobic bench got a decent review, because they add a new dimension to your step aerobic workout.
• The Brain Muscle Workout. This fitness DVD didn't strike the experts as anything new. But the mind/body connection the workout promotes is beneficial.
• Yoga fusion. Many DVDs and fitness classes have tried to add to the popularity of yoga. But one fitness expert doesn't like the trend. She feels that yoga is for meditation, and the new trend is trying to turn it into a weight loss or fitness activity.
• RealRyder. This indoor cycling bike that tilts and turns got rave reviews from one fitness expert, but another felt that the bike offered only slight advantages.
• Gravity. This machine is supposed to provide a full-body workout. One fitness expert says that the machine can provide what it claims, however, it's big and bulky (not to mention expensive) and adjusting the resistance is tricky.

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My food dehydrator has been running 24 hours a day the past week -- we're drying a bunch of food in anticipation of a 5-day remote canoe trip into the Boundary Waters. Pre-kids, I used to dehydrate a ton of food for backpacking trips. Not only is the food incredibly lightweight, it's easy to rehydrate on the trail and the taste is fantastic. No chemicals either. A handful of dried blueberries rehydrate perfectly overnight in a water bottle, ready to be folded into pancake batter!

At the risk of sounding like a perky infomercial, did you know you can dry homemade fruit leathers (e.g., fruit roll-ups), all sorts of fruit, beef jerky at about half the cost of store-bought and even veggies to stir into your dried spaghetti sauce on the trail? Even if you're not camping, a food dehydrator is a great way to prepare healthy snacks for the pantry.

Right now I have some cherry fruit leather drying, and to date have dried blueberries, a ton of teriyaki beef jerky, cinnamon apple slices, banana chips, chopped onions/green pepper, spaghetti sauce (which peels off the drying sheet just like fruit leather) and peas/carrots to stir in with our kid-friendly trail mac 'n cheese. Home-dried banana chips (chewier) are much healthier than store-bought dried banana chips which are typically crispy fried.

So next time that food dehyrator infomercial comes along, take a closer look. The National Center for Home Food Preservation offers helpful tips to get started. I own an 11-year-old American Harvest Snackmaster dehydrator -- it's still drying like a champ.

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