I was permanently banned from the Reddit sub without recourse for posting this despite not breaking any rules. I'm slowly making the migration over thanks to such encouragement.
ITT: a bunch of stolen bee vomit fetishists. Why pay so much money for something weird, gross, and every bit as unhealthy as sugar and corn syrup? Maple syrup (while also unhealthy) tastes way better. And date sugar, whole blended dates, or molasses are healthier alternatives.
What's unhinged is people who think they have the right to confine, torture, exploit, rape, murder, and devour the flesh and/or secretions of other animals just because they're different.
Yeah I get that bugs are easy to dismiss because they're tiny, often obnoxious and treated like a nuisance, and less intelligent than other animals. But we're still talking about living beings who have their own subjective experience of life, individuality, and their own agenda. Like all animals they came into this life with us, not for us.
Commodifying living beings is unhinged. And even ignoring the moral side of things, having a preference for bee vomit is unhinged.
The subjective experience of insects is so unbelievably alien from that of humans that trying to anthropomorphize them or compare their existence to that of humans is actually insane. Just by existing as megafauna, you probably kill hundreds or thousands of insects a year.
Healthy and unhealthy are composite binary terms that aren't useful. Specific, contextualized terms are more useful and allow for people to make better choices for the situation.
Maple syrup is particularly rich in abscisic acid. This acid presents a strong defense against diabetes and metabolic syndrome because it promotes the excretion of insulin from pancreatic cells and boosts fat cells' sensitivity to insulin.
As a whole, in order to reduce ones propensity to diabetes, reduce sugar intake. Then, if further steps are needed and reduction is no longer an option, find appropriate substitutes. From the abstract:
This review presents detailed information about the nutritional, organoleptic, and pharmacological properties of maple syrup. Studies carried out on animal models and a limited number of human models emphasize the potential benefits of maple syrup as a substitute for refined sugars, indicating that it could contribute to improved metabolic health when used in moderation. However, further medical and nutritional health studies based on human health assessments are needed to better understand the mechanisms of action of the various components of maple syrup and its potential therapeutic properties to demonstrate a stronger justification for its consumption relative to refined sugars. In addition, we compare maple syrup and common sweeteners to provide a further critical perspective on the potential nutritional and health benefits of maple syrup.
And the final sentence:
More studies are needed to better understand how much maple syrup could be ingested, as part of a regular diet, to promote these pharmacological properties without triggering obesity or weight-related disorders.
I could get into the complexities of when and where maple syrup may be more or less harmful, but that's a bit of effort for a nested lemmy thread that's been downvoted so far as to not matter. Point is, in the context of western industrialized societies, the majority of people would see benefits from abstaining from refined sources of sweeteners, including maple. There might be some unique compounds in it, but when you look at the percentages of what's in the stuff, it's basically 98% just sugar.
Also I would suggest reading Marion Nestle's, Food Politics. It gives an inside view of the corruption in nutrition science. One of the things she said that stuck with me was when she said that she gets suspicious any time anyone is doing studies on a single food item.
Because of you I just had two slices of bacon and two eggs for breakfast, how does that make you feel? I've also got at least 15 chicken wings and drumsticks in my fridge and a couple racks of beef ribs, along with several wedges of hard and soft cow cheeses. How does that make you feel?
And how about if I decide to go out with my cousin this fall to hunt a few animals in the most painful and excruciating way possible, prolonging their death for the thrill of the hunt?
And? You've already demonstrated that you're a psychopath (and probably have heart disease and diabetes as well). Are you so weak that you need to murder defenseless animals to feel good about yourself? How about you take a screenshot of this exchange for posterity. Maybe someday if you ever have the benefit of a moment of clarity, you can look back at it and cringe at yourself.