There is an abundance of “health” foods on the market today and a plethora of advice in the media and elsewhere on food pyramids, dietary guidelines and recommendations of daily intakes of all sorts of nutrients.

Rarely though is the advice available right where you do your shopping – especially when so much that is good for you to eat is presented unwrapped without detailed labelling.

Putting the healthy food and the information together is the idea behind the pulse sections at Hill Street Grocer.

David Hughes, who runs Pulse, says “We want to be information-based; it’s all very well to have lots of different foods and products, but no good if you don’t know how to use them. We actually explain to people what the foods are and what to do with them.”

David had been supplying both our shops when he had Valley Healthfoods just down the street in Lenah Valley. “Nick and Marco were finding customers were asking about health products,” he said. “I said ‘how about putting a health food section in the shop?’ It was making a lot of sense to go in together. They liked the idea, and Pulse started at Augusta Foodstore at the end of May.”

A working life spent in the wholefood business in Hobart means David “knows where to get things”. And a labelling machine allows him to create his own mixes – scroggin for instance, and Crazy Fruits – chunks of colourful dried pawpaw, pineapple, banana and such, that will appeal to children and they’ll be pleased to see in their lunchboxes.

The bulk bins, from which you help yourself, contain all sorts of grains, flours, fruits and nuts. David also makes a gluten-free muesli that has no wheat or oats, and low-allergy muesli that has no yeast or fruit, perfect for people diagnosed with candida.

“We try to source the best, so it is really good and people can stick with their diets,” said David, who has seen people told not to eat gluten veer from that because of the “yuk” factor of lesser products.

As much as he can, David tries to source organic products. “But if something is good quality, and you know it has not been pumped with pesticides and chemicals, I will go with that if the organic equivalent is two or three times the price,” he said.

As well as one-to-one advice in the shop (David is based at Augusta Foodstore but has trained staff at Hill Street Grocer), there will soon be a newsletter and recipe sheets. And in the works is an email service, through which customers will be able to ask their question and give David time to research his answer.

The image of Pulse is clean and modern. It’s not glitzy but it’s also far removed from any hippy associations with lentil stew.

“Baby-boomers are wanting to look after themselves and keep going a lot longer, so they’re coming back to wholefoods,” said David. “It does not have to be a radical change though – more of a balance.”

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