is it safe to take alpha lipoic acid to facilitate ketosis?

any side effects so far?

Sure take it if you want. No side effects should occur. All ALA does is clear excess glucose and dumps it in urine. Or if you can handle it, eat some bitter melon it's cheaper and can lower blood sugar effectively. Or if you don't want to eat that, they have it in pill form, but I'm not sure how much it costs.

i'm having trouble going for zero carb a day, but i'm on low carb now since few weeks ago, felt better but i only lost 5 pounds and i'm stuck there, i'm wondering if ALA will facilitate continuous ketosis?

ALA helps to dispose of glucose and it's used most often during carb-ups, not during keto phases of dieting. For the purpose you're intending you'd need large doses - in the 600mg dose range - and that's a very expensive proposition.

Lyle McDonald on ALA :


Nat

what do you mean by carbs-up??

She is referring to a diet called CKD. Basically eat low carb all week then carb up. Carb ups are usually short phases ranging from one meal to two days, where you increase calories from carbohydrate sources while decreasing fat calories at the same time. Or you could throw that "rule" out the window and do what most people do, eat what you want for one meal, but when you're satisfied resume low carb. As for taking ALA to induce ketosis, it will work, and personally I think it will be in the order of 200-300 mg spread over three of your first meals. As for using it during carb-ups, that really depends on how much you pig out, and how long you have been doing low carb. The longer you've been on, the less effective your cells are to insulin and you will have to rely on greater dosages to get the same effect as when you first started CKD.

Hope this helps.

so you mean the longer we are in low carb the worse is our insulin sensitivity???

Well in a way, yes. The body becomes more efficient, if that's the proper word, at using ketones and also spends more time manufacturing fat catalyzing enzymes. So it "forgets" temporarily how to process carbs. Protein breakdown becomes an easier process of getting glucose, so less insulin is used. Over time cells become accustomed. Any process you try over time, the body will adapt to. That's the beauty of evolution.

To combat this effect take more omega 3's, eat lots of salmon, if you want supplement with some ALA, d-pinitol and inozitol, or hypoglycemic inducing herbs like bitter melon or fenugreek (all of these excluding ALA can make you hungry so don't take too much in one sitting).

Hope this helps.

Hi Jtan:

I'm a bit confused. Why would you be "going" for zero carbs/day?

No! The greater your insulin sensitivity. When it takes more insulin to do the job you are said to be insensitive. When you LC you repair your insulin sensitivity - it takes less and your metabolism functions better.

Wanda, check out Protein Power if you're really interested in the hows and whys of LC - it's a great book

Nat

Hi Nat:

I've read almost every low carb books out there (except for a couple more obscure ones), but I've never seen anything advocating a "no" carb diet. I just didn't know why the poster was initially aiming for "no" carbs.

The Eades (or was it Neanderthin? or maybe both) discuss the Eskimo diet, which is virtually no carbs, but there are special considerations to this type of diet. I'd have to look up the quotes, but I thought that this type of diet involved eating meats less cooked as well as eating the entire animal to get the full range of nutrients. Neither authors advocate "no carbs" in their plan. In fact, the Eades believe that Atkins Induction levels are even too low.

Wanda

because i've been into low carb long time ago, it took me few days to go into induction. but after i went back to ordinary diet, now i'm going back to low carb, it takes me so long to induce ketosis...

I wouldn't fret over ketosis. Guage how you look in the mirror, because you can lose weight without it. Calories, catabolic forces (glucagon system, cortisol), and the thyroid gland are what make diets effective.

oh so what do you recommend