The thought of going gluten-free used to conjure up images of an all-meat diet. Or, if you were a vegetarian, nothing but salads all day, every day. That's just not the case anymore. With so many people swearing off wheat, food companies have come up with more and more options. Problem is, not all of these gluten-free goodies are created equally tasty. And nothing's worse than buying something and realizing you can't bear to take another bite. So we took the risk for you. We sampled the most popular gluten-free breads, crackers, and cookies to find out which ones were worth adding to your shopping list.

What are your favorite gluten-free brands?

Image via Life Mental Health/Flickr

Here comes the holiday gorge! For those of us who are either trying to be healthy or on a restrictive diet, this is the most challenging time of the year. Albeit wonderful, joyful, and fat-full. If you're on a gluten-free diet, you may think that means skipping the stuffing. But oh no, my fellow wheat-avoiding foodies. There are ways of indulging in all the goodies without all of those things that are bad for you. Many, many, delicious ways.

Let's start with the most amazing stuffing you'll ever eat -- the gluten-free part is simply a bonus. While chorizo is basically the best sausage ever, I used an andouille to give mine a Cajun kick. Choose the sausage the love, and enjoy this original, super yum, gluten-free stuffing on Thanksgiving.

Celiac disease, gluten allergy and gluten sensitivity are hard enough without missing out on the fun of trick-or-treating. The good news is, if you have people who avoid gluten in your house or on your party invite list, you can pass out the candy with a free hand. Some of the best Halloween treats out there are gluten-free!

It's still important to read labels; some manufacturers have plants in different places, so one might be completely gluten-safe while another might process wheat or other grain products in the same plant, which means it could be contaminated with traces of gluten.

Here are some Halloween favorites that are gluten-free for your holiday soiree:

If you're at all concerned about your baby possibly having allergies or asthma, then you may want to pay close attention to a specific food you either aren't eating or are maybe even avoiding during your pregnancy.

According to new research, (believe it or not) eating nuts while pregnant can actually reduce your baby's chance of developing allergies. Danish researchers followed the cases of over 60,000 mothers and their children from the time they were pregnant until the kids were 7 years old. And what they found was pretty surprising, to say the least.

Carb loading is the athletic tradition we all love. Big plate of pasta right before the race? Don't mind if I do! Remember Michael Phelps' training diet: Pancakes, French toast, grits, a pound of pasta as a side dish, an entire pizza for dinner. I think my blood sugar just spiked writing that! Even if we're just vicariously living through another athlete's feat, it's still a thrill to see all those carbs fly.

But some Olympic competitors as saying athletes have been carb loading the wrong way all along. Forget the pasta, forget the pizza, and definitely ditch the pancakes. The most cutting-edge Olympic athletes are cutting one key ingredient out of their carb foods.

Just around a decade ago, when my fiance's grandma was one of the first in their family to be diagnosed with celiac disease and my college roomie found out she was allergic, too, you'd be in treacherous territory by even trying to dine out with a food allergy. Thankfully, it's getting less stressful, as restaurants do their best to cater to people who are dairy-free, nut-free, or gluten-free, or suffer from any other food sensitivities.

I've seen it firsthand. Usually, whenever my fiance's brother, wife, and little girls come to visit us, we go to an Italian restaurant that does gluten-free cooking. It's a treat for them to get to eat a delicious pasta dish at a restaurant, just like anyone else who doesn't have celiac disease. And it's always so nice to see the chef come out and speak with us about all of our options and explain how the food is prepared, so there's no cross-contamination.

Seems Miley Cyrus has started quite the gluten-free fuss, with everybody wondering if the celeb's flat abs are just a dietary restriction away. Whether you're already gluten-free for medical reasons or curious about making the change or just want to try eating like Miley for a day because ... I don't know why.

But if you do?

These Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies are a good place to start. Mostly because they're really, really good.

So good that you'll probably be tempted to eat more than necessary, which would derail the afore-mentioned flat abs plan, but who cares? Yum.

Food and drink are getting weird, you guys. Or at least if the vendors at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim last weekend have anything to say about it. I was lucky enough to grab a few hours at the largest expo I've ever seen in my entire life, and tried to separate the wheat from the chaff. (Of course, there was no wheat to be found, as this gluten-free thing has gotten out of hand!)

Here's what you can expect in your grocery store later this year, if your grocery store has a fantastic sense of adventure.