Lifely Wellness offers alkaline water to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for the immune system

Business Spotlight:

Joining the existing cannabidiol, or CBD-based health and wellness offerings, Lifely Wellness in The Village has installed an alkaline water system right in the store, for house-created water available for purchase.

Owner Carla Parra opened her store in 2016 under the name La Jolla’s Little Vitamin Shop, but changed the name to Lifely Wellness and her product line to sell CBD oil products. Expanding once again in June, Parra installed the alkaline water creation system.

“Based on everything that has transpired in 2020 and with the pandemic, I felt the need to expand upon the wellness offerings and to delve more into [the] scope of the anti-inflammatory movement,” she said. “Inflammation creates more illness. So the more you can eradicate inflammation, the healthier your body will be and the more able it will be to sustain a healthy balance.”

Parra said alkaline water has anti-inflammatory properties and can help restore that balance.

“Alkaline water and alkaline diets have been around for quite a while and [are] often used for cancer patients and people experiencing disease,” she said. “I became more of a user of alkaline water over the last year and I saw how it helped me tremendously. Personally, I felt hydrated, my immune system kept up, my skin improved, I experienced weight loss. It’s now part of my regimen.”

She said the human body is “generally pretty acidic” and that adding alkaline products can help restore pH balance, further helping the body reach homeostasis,. On the pH scale, a level of around 7 is considered neutral. Parra’s alkaline water has a pH level of 8.5 to 9, to offset any excess acid.

“I drink a lot of coffee, so I have a lot of acid, so I drink a lot of alkaline water. It’s going to help the body get rid of those unnecessary acids,” Parra said. “Those acids compromise the immune system and send things out of balance. This also helps regulate blood sugar, helps with the acids in your mouth and plaque build-up. And it’s more hydrating than regular water.”

Having experienced the benefits of introducing alkaline water to her diet, Parra had a system installed to create alkaline water in the store. Using regular water, the process starts with reverse osmosis to take out the heavy metals and toxins; then it goes through a purification system, which removes any bacteria; then it goes through a UV treatment, which changes the chemistry and makes it alkaline.

Further, there is a dispenser outside the store available 24 hours a day from which alkaline water can be purchased.

“It also tastes so good, a lot different than regular water,” Parra said. “The alkaline almost has a sweet taste.”

The alkaline water joins the existing line of CBD-based products offered at Lifely.

“CBD helps with inflammation but also helps with sleep and anxiety,” she said, adding that she sells “live oil” which is flash frozen when the cannabis is harvested “so the cannabinoids are highly preserved and have kept their original profile. Not all oils are created equal.” However, she also carries basic CBD based oils and other products.

“It’s about getting the whole body into homeostasis,” she said. “You can really be healthy on the inside and that means a better body overall. You can do that with alkaline water and/or CBD, it’s just going about it in different ways. We want to be a one-stop shop for a strong immune system.”

Lifely Wellness is located at 1115 Wall St. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends. The store can be reached at (858) 291-8889. For appointments or consultations with Parra, call 619-315-4470.

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