have you tried fry light? theres a butter one too apparently its vegan

I don't need it, I like it.  There are a lot of things that we all do or buy or eat that we don't need.  But we do, buy, and eat them because we want to.

I'm not asking "what do I need to eat to sustain my life?" I am asking "how can I eat the the things I want to eat without encouraging animal cruelty?"

Thanks for helping, though, gi-jane.  I feel thoroughly belittled, so you have done your job.

Nasoya makes fat free nayonaise that I have used, which is only 10 calories per tablespoon!

Have you tried Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream? Used sparingly, it's not necessarily detrimental to your diet. Check out these recipes from fatfreevegan.com for sour cream, cheese, mayo that you can make yourself. There's an ooookay recipe for vegan mini quiche cups on that site, too. I have bought unsweetened soy yogurt (my favorite is Wildwood plain) and mixed it with diced fruit or sugar free preserves, yum.

You could probably, with a bit of looking, find some healthful sorbet or a recipe and instructions to make your own. Sometimes something as simple as a bit of non dairy milk over frozen fruit really hits the spot, too!

Also, I don't know about any "butter" sprays, but Smart Balance 37% Light Buttery Spread and Smart Balance Light Buttery Spread with Flax Oil are vegan and have 45 calories per tablespoon.  They make a spray that is NOT vegan, though.

Fat free foods are a scam anyway.  They just replace the fat with sugar and other sweeteners and chemicals to replace the taste that is lost by removing the fat.  In the end, it is far worse for you. 

I just use the full fat soy alternatives (yes they do have more fat/calories than the low fat dairy kind) but use it sparingly keeping in mind they are also very processed and the calorie content.

Mayo- vegannaise, miso mayo, mustard

Sour cream - tofutti

Butter - Smart balance

I don't do ice cream or yogurt, sorry.  However I think some sorbets are non-dairy?

Turtle Mountain Soy Delicious makes 80 calorie fudge bars...I've never had them so I can't comment on the size. Nayonaise is good substitute and you can also make your own and it might come out more healthy, but probably not totally fat free..search for some recipes online. I did a quick search of vegcooking.com and found recipes for both vegan mayo and sour cream, but they include oil.

I completely disagree with gi-jane's post. "Diet" food is a gimmick when you are so ignorant that you think just because a label says "light", it means you can eat the entire package. There's nothing wrong with wanting to watch your calories and fat intake (isn't that what we're here for?), and if that means eating food that is considered "diet" and if that's what the OP LIKES to eat, then good for her. She's trying to watch her caloric intake as well as help to stop animal cruelty within her means.

I'm not vegan, but I've tried lots of fuzzys recommendations.  Vegannaise, tofutti, and smart balance are all tasty options. 

fatfreevegan.com has recipies for a lot of the products you're looking for. 

Good luck!

Hey, thanks to everyone for your suggestions.  I'm gonna hit up the co-op tomorrow and see if I can find any of those brands - and I'll be checking out the recipes, too!

Pet Peave: referring to "chemicals" as somehow bad.  

If you think that, then can you sign my petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO)?  It's corrosive and kills thousands of children every year.  Yet it's in pretty much everything we eat and in every breath we take.  Power plants spew it unregulated into the atmosphere.  It is used in generating nuclear power and the manufacture of plastics and in mining.

Please stop this deadly chemical!

http://www.dhmo.org/

smart squeeze fat-free margarine is vegan though it's not a spray. i've bought it once before, it's okay though it seems kinda weird to have a fat free 'butter'.

i've used cooking sprays before for certain things. they have 0 calories. it's good for frying things and air popped popcorn.

My diet foods are:
seasoned seaweed (salty snack for about 10-20 calories a sheet)
tabatchnick mushroom barley soup (80 calories)
berries
diet stez sodas (no artificial sweeteners w/ about 1/2 the calories of a regular soda and it's also organic)
air popped popcorn (usually w/ nutritional yeast and sea salt it's about 150 calories for 5 cups)
smart dogs (very convenient source of protein for about 45 calories and no fat)
baked whole grain tortilla chips w/ salsa (usually about 150 calories for a decent portion and only two grams of fat)
iced green tea (natural, 0 calories and gets keeps your metabolism going)
nutritional yeast ( adds a cheesy flavor w/ no fat, 50 calories for 2 heaping tablespoons, really good source of b-12)

besides those things i just eat a lot of fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts and legumes. those are all pretty lean things w/ nuts for GOOD fat. almonds in particular are really good w/ tons of vitamin e for your hair, skin and nails. i used to take hemp seed oil but i ran out and that stuff is kinda pricey.

Original Post by clyde_greentree:

Pet Peave: referring to "chemicals" as somehow bad.  

If you think that, then can you sign my petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO)?  It's corrosive and kills thousands of children every year.  Yet it's in pretty much everything we eat and in every breath we take.  Power plants spew it unregulated into the atmosphere.  It is used in generating nuclear power and the manufacture of plastics and in mining.

Please stop this deadly chemical!

http://www.dhmo.org/

 LOL I'm probably the only one besides you that knows DHMO is actually H20.  Get it di=2 hydrogen and mono=1 oxide.  Water people Water.  LOL

I'm sure GI Jane didn't mean any harm.  She's a very active member here, quite knowledgeable, and eager to help.  I don't think she meant to belittle anyone.

I would like to say I do agree with her statement that diet foods.. the diet industry.. is a scam. As fuzzy points out, they might remove some of the fat, but they replace it with some other flavoring agent- usually created in a lab somewhere. Margarine was marketed as a healthy alternative to butter. We now know how truly bad trans-fats are. Anyone remember Fen-Phen? What a miracle diet pill that was (provided you have a strong heart!)

How many diet, no/low fat, sugar-free, low sodium products are on the shelves of our stores. Compare that to the percentage of overweight and obese people. Those with diabetes, cancer and other diseases we're plagued with. Why do we have such problems when there are so many "healthy alternatives" available to us?

The OP asked why there's no Vegan diet food available. I would suggest whole foods are a vegan's diet food. I would prefer to process the foods in my own kitchen than to put my trust in a corporation who's primary concern is to generate profit.

It's so simple to make my own salad dressings, for example. It takes minutes, I have complete control over the quality of ingredients that go into it, and the amount of fats, etc.

Why let a corporation do this for me when they produce a mediocre product, with questionable health benefits, nearly infinite shelf life, all the while cutting corners to reduce cost (in effort to generate higher profit)?

(sorry for the rant - I have such disdain for the diet food industry, particularly in how it's marketed.  This is not directed at any individual)

Original Post by missechelle:

Original Post by clyde_greentree:

Pet Peave: referring to "chemicals" as somehow bad.

If you think that, then can you sign my petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO)? It's corrosive and kills thousands of children every year. Yet it's in pretty much everything we eat and in every breath we take. Power plants spew it unregulated into the atmosphere. It is used in generating nuclear power and the manufacture of plastics and in mining.

Please stop this deadly chemical!

http://www.dhmo.org/

LOL I'm probably the only one besides you that knows DHMO is actually H20. Get it di=2 hydrogen and mono=1 oxide. Water people Water. LOL

bahahaha duh!  Most people are total dummies, though.

Funny that...When I read Clyde's and Missechelle's posts, all I was thinking was how it's a personal pet peeve of *mine* to assume that everyone is a moron and no one knows that dihydrogen monoxide is H20 (not DHMO, actually).  Many people do blindly follow any dogma that is placed in front of them, but some people can discern between a "good" chemical and  "bad" one.  Some people utilize their brains, and I like to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I expect people to assume that I think about what I put into my body, and I assume the same about them.  I don't judge if you want to put "nasty lab-created chemicals" in your body, or if you want to rail on about how "chemicals" is a stupid catch-all buzz word thrown about by people who don't understand what it means.  But I do judge those who judge.  It's unbecoming.

Maybe I'll just go chew on some wheat grass and read the dictionary and everyone will be happy.

No, but on a serious note, thanks to everyone for their snack and substitution suggestions.  I'll tell you that I just made a wicked good vegan chocolate peanut butter mousse which only had 170 cals per huge serving and was equal parts all natural health store goodness and evil lab created chemicals.  It wasn't quite as satisfying as a skinny cow, but it was darn good. 

Original Post by pumpkin314:

Funny that...When I read Clyde's and Missechelle's posts, all I was thinking was how it's a personal pet peeve of *mine* to assume that everyone is a moron and no one knows that dihydrogen monoxide is H20 (not DHMO, actually).  Many people do blindly follow any dogma that is placed in front of them, but some people can discern between a "good" chemical and  "bad" one.  Some people utilize their brains, and I like to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I was actually making fun of Clyde for being a jerk.

I believe GI jane and Gpat are telling you the truth. Too many people rely on quick fixes that only make us fatter and the corps richer!!!! Most of the solutions are with a few ingredients and prepared in your kitchen. 

We choose to be vegan and vegetarian for health and or ethical and environmental reasons. 

1. Less packaging because veggies come loose

2. healthy- when I think of food, I ask what it can do for me

3. respect all on Earth

If my foods do not fit those requirements. I usually give it a thumbs down (or eat a bite or two to be polite in front of company)

I've been vegetarian for awhile now.. a lot of delicious things can actually be healthy ... here is one of my fav desserts (I use a similar recipe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgA6h2FrdIU

I know exactly what you mean, and I agree. It was what held me off veganism for a while. I felt like I would miss all my lower calorie "diet" foods. But there are comparable, all natural low-calorie subs. Not really "diet" as in packaged and processed but just lower in calorie, you know.

butter spray: olive oil spray!

mayo and sour cream: hummus or mustard

yogurt... unfortunately have yet to find an alternative. Sigh. Soy yogurt has twice the calories for same amount of volume (same protein too), and has like 3 times as much sugar! It also tastes way different.

Ice cream... you're right. I kind of gave up on ice cream too, because I couldn't find any good ones that seemed worth the calories. 

I became a vegan a couple months ago though, and I'm glad I did it. It's worth it, but I feel your pain.

I expect that most people, even very smart people, do not know the obscure permutations of chemical names.  I honestly only know a few, since my high school chemistry was a whole lot of dimensional analysis, which I'm pretty sure is only peripherally related to chemistry.   Don't ask me what a covalent bond is.

If I had talked about "sodium chloride" or "monosodium glutamate", most people would know that I was talking about common foods as well as common chemicals.  Both of those chemicals are detrimental to my health, but probably OK for you.

That being said, I'm sorry for having offended you, pumpkin.  My intent was an interesting and entertaining diversion on the general misuse of the term "chemicals", not directed any particular person.   You had the defacto misfortune of stepping into the crosswalk as I was stepping on the gas.  I have similar peaves about "all natural", "organic", "chi" and "LOL" but I'm certain that you don't care.

Some people don't mind practical jokes.   I am a very bad sport when it comes to being a target of practical jokes.   My wife played one on me...once.  From your response, I assume that we are kindred spirits.

dhmo.org is  a practical joke.  A rickroll.   If you don't get it, I empathise and apologize.

By the ceremony of these words, I hereby disengage from this thread. You may applaud as I exit.