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"   The gluten-free diet is having a moment. Whether it&amp;#039;s your mother, neighbor, or Miley Cyrus, it seems that everyone and their brother is jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon.  So why the sudden craze? Of the 30% of adults who say they are &amp;quot;cutting down on or avoiding gluten,&amp;quot; a significant portion are doing so in hopes of losing weight (despite the fact that gluten-free foods may actually contain more calories than their mainstream counterparts). Many other people avoid gluten because of a sensitivity or allergy to the protein\u2014found in wheat, rye, and barley. As many as 18 million Americans find themselves with headaches, bloating, brain fog, and fatigue post-gluten-indulgence. Thankfully, the aisles of grocery stores are becoming increasingly populated with gluten-free foods\u2014not all of which are created equal.  &amp;quot;Gluten is what helps make bread chewy, waffles fluffy, and pasta perfectly firm\u2014which is why many GF versions can be dense, crumbly, and limp,&amp;quot; says Samantha Cassetty, M.S., R.D., Nutrition Director of Good Housekeeping. Thanks to new manufacturing techniques and the mainstreaming of certain ingredients, though, GF foods aren&amp;#039;t just more popular\u2014they&amp;#039;re better than ever!  Which ones should you add to your shipping list? GHRI put 87 of the latest GF snacks to the test to find which stand up to their gluten-containing counterparts. We enlisted 186 taste-testers to sample blinded-and-baggied chips, crackers, bars, and desserts\u2014and came up with a total of 23 snacks that will leave you wondering: who needs gluten anyway?  Here, a few highlights from our research and roundup:   When it comes to GF chips, keep an eye on sodium. Many of the products we tested were complete salt assaults, containing as much as 400 mg per serving (as a point of reference, ordinary potato chips have 170 mg per serving) Gluten-free crackers can be a great source of whole grains, and a number of the chips we tested also contained super nutritious add-ons\u2014everything from kale and beans to omega-3-rich hemp and chia  For everyday eating, look for bars that contain 150 calories or less. South Beach Diet reigned supreme in our bar test, claiming three of six winning titles (best all-around granola bar, best for chocolate lovers, and best for chocolate chip cookie fans) When it came to cookies, testers loved Cybele&amp;#039;s Free-to-Eat cookies in chocolate chip, praising their &amp;quot;soft and chewy&amp;quot; texture. A true feat, considering the GF reputation for lacking a chewy consistency!  Finally, thanks to a new FDA law, if a product claims to be &amp;quot;gluten-free,&amp;quot; you can be assured that it truly is. It must have less than 20 parts per million of gluten\u2014a threshold that has been proven safe for the vast majority of those affected  To read the full list of GHRI&amp;#039;s winning gluten-free snacks, check out Samantha&amp;#039;s full magazine feature. Happy snacking! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a19605/what-to-know-about-going-gluten-free/>