ALA=Alpha Lipoic Acid
It's a glucose disposal agent and is helpful during the carb-up days. I usually take about 300mg a half-hour before each carb-up meal and before the first few low-carb meals after the carb-up. It helps shuttle the carbs to your muscles rather than your fat stores. It also helps me get back into ketosis faster.
I've found it helps reduce some of the bloat that I previously experienced during my carb days. I believe it helps with with preventing spillover, but that may just be me. The only side effect I've noticed is it makes me extremely thirsty, which isn't a bad thing because it forces me to drink more water. The added water makes me gain a little more "scale weight" but since it's water, I lose it as soon as I return to low-carb eating.