I may sound like a broken record by the end of this post, but I can’t stress enough the importance of the words ‘Context’ and ‘It Depends’ and the importance they both have in order for us to be able to think critically and objectively in our thought process with every piece of information presented to us.

If only I was writing this blog post whilst sipping on a freshly brewed black coffee from one of these mugs.

During my Undergraduate Exercise & Sport Science degree, the best example that has stuck in my head, since hearing from one of my lecturers about ‘context’ and how we can apply this critical thinking into the real world - is a man with a bloody knife, standing over a corpse lying on the floor.

I will try not to butcher the premise of the example, but 'it goes a little something like this’ (excuse the poor RUN-D.M.C pun. If you haven’t heard of them - shame on you, please educate yourself).

Picture yourself in this situation…..you hear a scream and enter into a room to find a body on the floor with somebody kneeling over holding a knife covered in blood.

What’s your first reaction & thought?…..Easy right? The person holding the knife obviously must have committed the crime as they’re the only person in the room, besides the victim? ……But….how can you be sure?

What if the person in the room came to the aid of the victim?

What if the victim did this to themselves and the accused was trying to save them?

Did you not recall the passers by in the hallway before entering the room, perhaps they could have been fleeing the scene of the crime.

……and so on and so on…you get the point - what this example is doing is trying to get you to do is to think critically and the value the ‘context’ and how it can be applied given every piece of information and how ‘it depends’, given the i Fundamentally, you’re stripping back layers of information, trying to find the enigma to the problem through different situations.

So, you’re probably thinking to yourself, how does this even relate to anything remotely focused around nutrition?

Well, this critical thinking and the use of ‘context’ & ‘It depends’ the thought process can be applied to everyday examples that people ask me, about their nutrition, such as:

Is coca-cola bad for me?
Should I do fasted cardio?
Are carbohydrates bad for me?
What is the best diet for me?
Should I follow (fill in any diet name here) diet?
etc. etc. etc……you get the point, here insert some general statement.

Take the fasted cardio example, well ‘it depends’ on the ‘context’ that the questions is applied to: What is the goal for that particular workout, also for the overall goal for the individual? Are they seeking for performance or training adaptations? This would create a different answer for them. Stripping the question back another layer - What do they mean by fasted cardio, as there are various forms of ‘Train low’ training strategies; (training twice per day, training with low exogenous carbohydrates etc.).

Take another example that gets asked regular, are carbohydrates bad for me? Well again ‘it depends’ and the ‘context’ of what kind of carbohydrates are they referring to? - are they talking about deep fried french fries and pizza or boiled and plain baked potatoes?

If you only remember one thing from this post please remember this statement: - There are no such thing a ‘bad foods’, given their ‘context’ all foods can offer benefits and can be applied to particular circumstances.

Re-read the bold text above again, just to make sure you didn’t miss read it - There are no such thing as ‘bad foods’ however, when excessive quantities, poor eating habits and negative behaviours associated around those foods are prevalent, then this could be problematic and considered not a wise choice for the individual.

Take home messages:

Context, Context, and Context.
Nutrition can be very simplistic.
Nutrition can be very complicated.
There are no such things as ‘bad foods’.
I like to answer questions, with several reply questions in order to dig deeper.
Old school 90’s & 00’s Hip-Hop is far superior to the modern ‘stuff'.

If you would like support with education around your nutrition or improving your dietary choices, please contact me today to see how I can help to support you with your particular goals.

james@jamessinclairnutrition.com

'Context' , 'It Depends' and the importance of Critical Thinking.