If you are on a ketogenic diet and know that you are going to have a meal with carbs, (let’s say its unavoidable) how should you use alpha lipoic acid (ALA) to kick you back into ketosis. Should you take it before, with or after the meal?
The increased insulin sensitivity effect of ALA is fairly short - couple hours tops. I recommend 200-300mg following the meal and if needed, another 200mg an hour or 2 later. 200mg per meal seems to be the minimum amount required and I have experienced better results with higher doses between 500-1000mg per meal. You can gauge the effect by how you physically feel - larger doses should drop blood glucose levels and with large enough dose, I experience the lethargy, etc of the low blood sugar feeling one gets just before entering ketosis. You might have to experiment but doses between 200-500mg usually help clear blood glucose. Too many carb meals will interfer with ketosis no matter what though. A good cardio session a couple hours after the meal will help also.