Sunraysia Organic Fruit Juice. Brunch At About Life, Rozelle.


Darling Street is not a bad place to be when the weather’s looking bleak.  As the main street that connects two of my favourite foodie suburbs, Rozelle and Balmain, you’re never too far from a good coffee or a bite to eat.

Ironically, the pace on the street is much more relaxed on a weekday morning than it is during the weekends.  Mums strolling prams, girls back from the gym and local business people out for a mid morning coffee don’t seem to be in a rush to get anywhere.  Baristas take their time to make their espresso shots just so and their customers appear to be passing their time in quiet thought rather than the agitated waiting that often goes on in the city.

After taking our coffee Darling Street on a weekday style, Mr SSG strolled up the road to the local About Life cafe and market for a brunch hosted by Sunraysia Australia.

Sunraysia’s Organic juices come in 4 flavours – tropical, orange, apple & blackcurrant and apple.
Already famous for their prune juice, the family owned company has just branched out into the organic fruit juice market with these handy 200ml single serve soft pouches.   Currently, 4 flavours are available and the juice is in both Woolworths and Coles as well as other outlets.  The pricing is also very competitive for an organic product – $1.49 each or $5 for 5 pouches.  The energy content of each juice varies from 320 kj to 448 kj per pouch which makes them ideal for lunch boxes or as part of a snack.

The fruit juices are sourced in Europe and packed at a whizz bang facility in Dubai.  The promise of ‘Nothing added, nothing taken away’ refers to the fact that the juices are made purely from organic fruit and that no sugar or preservatives are used in the manufacturing process.  With summer (supposedly) around the corner, the juices freeze well and can be cut open and eaten as a healthy slushy.  Which takes me back to my childhood of cutting open and scraping away at the contents of tetra packs of somewhat less healthy iced chocolate milk drinks…

It’s not everyday that the ingredient list for a long life fruit juice features only one ingredient…

The juices definitely taste far superior to the rest of the fruit juices in the long life aisle at the supermarket.  I was very impressed at the quality for the price point and the single serve, stay cool packaging makes it easy to always have something healthy to drink on the go this summer.

Over an organic cooked breakfast, nutritionist Amy McKendrick of My Nutrition Coach gave us a very informative and practical presentation about the benefits of incorporating organic food into the family eating plan.  Her focus really being on incorporating organic whole foods one at a time rather than trying to go exclusively organic which isn’t realistic or practical for many of us for many reasons.

Except for quite a few months of this pregnancy (see my numerous posts extolling the virtues of KFC mash and special order Big Macs), I’ve thought of myself as a healthy eater.  At least two fruit and five veg a day, not smoking, being alcohol free most days of the week and limiting takeaways.  However, I’ve also had several weaknesses over the years – Coke Zero, diet ‘yoghurt’ (if it can be called yoghurt with its 15 million additives and minimal nutritional content) and flavoured rice crackers amongst other things.

Amy’s talk contained plenty of evidence about the negative health implications of additive rich and highly processed foods as well as a counter argument for organic foods.  I’m now thinking twice and more convinced than ever about my sometimes foods like soft drink, chocolate biscuits and flavoured potato chips.  I’ve already made the switch from margarine and diet yoghurt to butter and less processed natural yoghurts.

Organic foods typically contain a third more nutrients than their chemically weakened counterparts.  And being nutrient deficient is perhaps the biggest problem with our diets these days.

The good news is that it’s not necessary for all your food to be organic.  If possible, try to buy the following foods in their organic form:

  • peaches
  • spinach and kale
  • capsicum
  • meat
  • chicken
  • eggs and other dairy
  • bread
  • potatoes
  • strawberries.
The ‘clean 15’ foods are naturally resistant to the effects of pesticides and additives and don’t necessarily have to be organic.  This group includes:
  • sweet corn
  • garlic
  • pineapple
  • avocado
  • cabbage
  • green peas
  • mangoes
  • rockmelon
  • sweet potato
  • mushrooms
  • grapefruit.

Inspired by Amy’s words and my brunch of organic bacon and eggs and juice, I took the chance to explore the rest of About Life.

I can’t believe I’ve left it this long to pay this place a visit.  The shelves were piled high with food that looked good as well as being good for you.

I managed to track down a few items that have proved elusive in my weekly shopping at regular supermarkets.

As well as taking a moment to have a giggle at these chocolates…

Mr SSG and I were guests of Sunraysia Australia at brunch today and we thank them for their support of this blog.


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