Graduating with a degree in Criminology and Behavioural Studies, with a minor in Sociology in Australia, Ronali Perera moved back to Sri Lanka and found herself doing a variety of different jobs in different places. Still undecided as to what she wanted to do with her life, it was while she was in church one [...]

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Getting the best from juicing

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Graduating with a degree in Criminology and Behavioural Studies, with a minor in Sociology in Australia, Ronali Perera moved back to Sri Lanka and found herself doing a variety of different jobs in different places. Still undecided as to what she wanted to do with her life, it was while she was in church one day that she felt a calling to start a juice company. Not knowing much about the juicing industry, Ronali spent three months doing the research and then decided to go for it.

Ronali and her pet Roscoe. Pix by Sameera Weerasekera

Three years later, Ronali is running a successful cold press juice company – Raw Organic (Refreshing Ayurvedic Wellness Pvt Limited) and is a passionate believer in leading a healthy lifestyle. Raw Organic has built a steady clientele selling 200 to 300 juices every week. Now employing three women fulltime to make the juices, Ronali has a juicing room in her home in Boralesgamuwa and gets the produce from a certified organic supplier. As the name suggests, they use organic fruits and vegetables to create ayurvedic and nutritionist approved juices and juice cleanses.
Each juice has between 500 grams to 1 kg of produce, and costs about 500 rupees for a 370ml bottle. Made with no water, sugar or added preservatives, the juices have a shelf life of 72 hours.

“The main reason I was compelled to do this was because of the high rate of non communicable diseases (NCDs) in Sri Lanka. In 2016 when I started the business, over 70% of deaths in Sri Lanka were due to non communicable diseases. And today in 2019, it is 83%. One of the ways you can guard against getting a non communicable disease or reduce your chances of getting a non communicable disease is by having at least 400g of fruits, vegetables and leafy greens in your daily diet,” Ronali says.

After realizing her passion for healthy eating and cold pressed juices Ronali began looking to see how she could gain a deeper understanding of the subject. Having completed a course in ‘Ayurveda as a lifestyle’, and ‘Food as medicine’. Ronali is now getting a certification in ‘Essentials of Sports and Exercise Nutrition’.

“The main challenge when I started was that lots of people did not know what these cold pressed juices were so there was a lot of educating that I had to do before I started any form of marketing. I had to first educate people on what cold pressed juices were and why it was so important to add healthy juices into your diet every day,” says Ronali.

When she is not working on Raw Organic, Ronali, a devoted dog lover, rescues dogs. She is currently ‘mum’ to three adorable dogs, and it is clear how much they love her – Roscoe, her German Shorthaired Pointer follows her everywhere she goes.

The hydraulic cold press

After that brief digression, we get back to juices and Ronali enlightens us of the processes used. Most of us are familiar with juices, where blades spin very rapidly creating heat that remove the juice from fruits and vegetables. The heat generated leaves behind a less nutrient-dense liquid than what you would get from cold-pressed juices, and could even spike blood glucose levels. In making cold-pressed juices, a hydraulic cold press is used and the maximum amount of liquid is extracted from the organic fruits and vegetables with no nutrients lost in the process.

With 12, colour-themed flavours Raw Organic has something for everyone – from Garden Greens, Glorious Green, Green Glow, Green Goddess, Galaxy Green, Golden Green to Ravishing Red, Ruby Red, Outrageous Orange, Orange Obsession, Lose Some Pounds, Yolo Yellow and Yummy Yellow. The combinations are interesting: Glorious Green, for instance, is packed with gotukola, guava, mukunuwenna, ginger, pineapple, thebu, and hathawariya. Ruby Red is made with beetroot, watermelon, king coconut, mint and chia seeds. Orange Obsession is made with carrot, narang, king coconut, turmeric, ginger and honey.

Raw Organic also has a few different types of cleanses on offer. For more information see http://rawsrilanka.com/ or the Raw Organic Instagram page https://instagram.com/rawsrilanka?igshid=1gzie1f57qsx6.

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