Coco's Blog

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A shopper's guide to sugar alternatives, from monk fruit to allulose

09/10/2026

The sweetener shelf has grown from a lonely box of stevia to a whole bay: monk fruit drops, erythritol blends, birch xylitol, coconut sugar and, lately, a syrup made from something called allulose. They all promise sweetness with less of the downside..

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Liposomal vitamins: what the tiny fat bubbles do, and when they are worth paying for

09/10/2026

A sachet of liposomal vitamin C costs more than a whole bottle of vitamin C tablets, and people still come back for it. Liposomal supplements have gone from a niche product to a whole section of the shelf, with liquid vitamin C, B12, magnesium, gluta..

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How to calm a breakout: pimple patches, tea tree and a simple routine

09/10/2026

A pimple always seems to arrive the week of a wedding or a job interview. The temptation is to attack it: squeeze it, scrub the whole face and dab on everything in the bathroom cabinet. Breakout prone skin usually does better with the opposite approa..

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Nappy rash: how to prevent it, soothe it and know when to see the GP

09/10/2026

Almost every baby gets nappy rash at some point, and it can turn up quickly: a happy bottom at bedtime and an angry red one by morning. Most cases are mild and clear up in a few days with some simple changes. Here is what causes it, a routine that pr..

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Packing a healthy beach picnic for a day at Maroubra

09/10/2026

Spring has turned up in Maroubra, the water is warming and the weekend crowds are back on the sand. A day at the beach is better with good food, and the beachfront takeaway is not always what you are after. With a little planning you can pack a picni..

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Do you need electrolytes? A Sydney summer guide

05/10/2026

Electrolyte sachets used to be something you bought at the chemist when a stomach bug went through the house. Now they sit next to the protein powders, come in a dozen flavours and get carried to the office in a drink bottle. Some of those people nee..

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Fibremaxxing without the bloat: how to reach 30 grams a day

05/10/2026

Of all the health trends to come out of social media, fibremaxxing is one of the few we are happy to see. The idea is simple: eat a lot more fibre than you do now. Most of us should. The catch is that people go from 15 grams a day to 50 overnight, fe..

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Low iron: the signs, the blood test and how to bring it back up

05/10/2026

Low iron is one of the most common nutrient problems in Australia, and one of the easiest to miss. The tiredness creeps up so slowly that people put it down to work, kids or getting older. Women who menstruate, pregnant women, teenage girls, enduranc..

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Apple cider vinegar: what a daily spoonful can and cannot do

05/10/2026

Apple cider vinegar has been a kitchen cure all for about as long as there have been apples and barrels. These days it is sold in gummies and shots as well as bottles, with claims that range from reasonable to wild. The real picture is more modest, a..

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Fish oil or algae oil? How to read an omega 3 label

05/10/2026

Omega 3 is one of the few supplements most dietitians will talk about without rolling their eyes, mainly because so few people eat oily fish often enough. The shelf has become a lot more crowded, though: fish oil, krill oil, cod liver oil, algae oil,..

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What is shilajit, and how to buy one that is actually clean

01/10/2026

If you had told me three years ago that the most asked about thing in the shop would be a sticky black tar that comes out of rock in the Himalayas, I would have laughed. But here we are. Shilajit went from a word only our Ayurvedic customers knew to ..

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Ceremonial cacao, cacao powder and cocoa, and which one to buy

01/10/2026

We have a whole shelf of cacao in the shop now, and the question we get most is some version of "is this not just expensive hot chocolate?" It is a fair question. The short answer is that ceremonial cacao, cacao powder and the cocoa in the baking ais..

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Essential oils for beginners, the five bottles worth starting with

01/10/2026

The essential oil wall in our shop can be a lot to take in. There are dozens of single oils, a row of blends with names like Stress Less and Deep Sleep, roller bottles, carrier oils and diffusers. When someone new to all of it stands there looking a ..

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Creatine for women, and why it is not just for gym bros

01/10/2026

For years the only people who bought creatine from us were young blokes training for something. Then, over about eighteen months, that changed completely. These days the person asking me about creatine is more likely to be a woman in her forties who ..

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Natural insect repellent that actually keeps the mozzies away

01/10/2026

Every year, around the first really warm evening in October, the same thing happens. Someone comes in scratching their ankles, having spent the previous night on the balcony, and asks what we have that works but does not smell like a chemical plant. ..

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Matcha at home, and what ceremonial grade actually means

08/09/2026

Five years ago matcha was a thing we sold about one tin of a month. Now it is the busiest corner of the tea wall, and at least twice a week someone comes in with a photo on their phone of a very green drink from a cafe in Bondi, asking how to make th..

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Beef tallow for skin, and whether it lives up to the hype

08/09/2026

Two years ago nobody walked in and asked for beef fat to put on their face. Now it happens several times a week, usually by someone who has watched a video about it and wants to know if we are going to tell them it is nonsense. We are not, but the ho..

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Which cooking oil to actually use, and where the seed oil argument fits

08/09/2026

The oil shelf has quietly become the most argued about part of the shop. Ten years ago people asked which one was cheapest. Now they arrive with a screenshot and a firm opinion about linoleic acid. Here is how we actually think about it, and what we ..

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Waking up at 3am, and what actually helps you sleep

08/09/2026

After magnesium, this is the thing we get asked about most. And the question is almost never how do I get to sleep. It is why do I fall asleep fine at ten and then find myself wide awake at ten past three, doing sums about work. If that is you, here ..

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