Alpha Lipoic Acid
more Comfortably at Higher Doses
for Detox and Energizing Every Cell
The key to using alpha lipoic acid comfortably for detoxifying metals is finding the cofactor nutrients you need to tolerate ALA or any detoxification method.
Understanding the concept of nutritional cofactors is actually the whole of nutrition: how all nutrients work together as system. All nutrients depend on other nutrients as cofactors necessary to absorb other nutrients or construct enzymes, processes, etc., so you need to have all of them in your diet. Your system is only as strong as its weakest links.
Cofactor logic is NOT matching nutrients to symptoms in a universal manner, like this:
“Take this for that.” “How do I biohack X? “
FOUNDATIONAL NUTRITION: Cofactors Together As a System
Way underneath all the symptoms are unique individual nutritional needs starting with deficiencies that are missing cofactors to utilize the nutrients you already have.
There are indirect cofactors and direct cofactors of ALA.
Indirect cofactors are all basic nutritional needs that affect everything. That statement is as seemingly vague as it is profound and you must understand it.
Systems thinking is about energizing all energy pathways of every cell, the mitochondria, which represent your whole system.
If you don’t start with sodium, potassium, and magnesium, you get nowhere. Those are at least indirect cofactors of everything. Morely Robbins explains what happens after that with copper and iron, from direct to indirect connections.
People with many allergies, intolerances and reactive symptoms usually suffer from deficiencies.
Nutrition works best on a diet individualized for you, as people have very different needs.
A basic nutritional foundation that is complete leaving no weak links in deficiencies, excesses and intolerances is necessary to tolerate detoxification by any methods.
Methods for customizing this to individuals are sorely lacking leaving people on their own to shop for diet fads or just avoid whatever they cannot tolerate without fixing the causes. People are often unaware of what they are missing because they have no method to know.
ALA COFACTORS: Anti Oxidant and Oxidizers as a Systems: Redox to Detox
Direct cofactors work directly with ALA: the other antioxidants, C, E, and glutathione. Cofactors work best when increased in proportion.
ALA is also a part of general energy production through dehydrogenase in NAD and NADP. Thus, there are two levels of “for:” detox and energy production for other functions.
ALA itself has direct and indirect effects.
Andrew Cutler treated ALA more as a direct chelator that binds heavy metals.
Christopher Shade says ALA is more important as a recycler of glutathione, a key detoxifier.
Although there is general science on the role of ALA, don’t wait for studies to ask some questions most important to practitioners. Practitioners can lead with innovation to provide anecdotes to suggest what is promising for scientists to study. Research scientists don’t necessarily know what is most urgent to focus on. The research objective is also different: generalize from a large population/sample around relatively few variables, while the practitioner has to deal with the full complexity of N=1, the individual. What I suggest here is a result of my own experimentation of how to make ALA work more comfortably at higher doses with fewer interruptions or time off.
Toward the end of my long detox journey of mercury and many other things, after many years and methods, and mastering all basic nutritional deficiencies, I was able to tolerate and often feel energized on very high doses of ALA, like 600 mg and settling in on 400 as usually the most comfortable, with a lean weight in the 130-140 lb range. That’s a long way up from starting with 10 mg in the beginning as many people do. My tolerance was lower in the beginning because I still had no method for identifying nutritional deficiencies.
Adding pure ascorbates, L ascorbic acid, (vitamin C) the correct form, not buffered with minerals, can take away the yucky feeling from high doses of ALA I have taken ALA to see how I feel without, and then with ascorbates a few minutes later to feel the difference.
It’s not just acorbates, but my body is loaded with the other ALA cofactors: glutathione precursors and E; and the foundational nutrition of right diet, all deficiencies, and all foods and supplements tested and upgraded to best in class. This is a huge qualification on the context of my experiment that will be hard for someone to reproduce. So if you only try ascrobates with ALA, you might not get results I got. Especially if you are not energetically testing quantities, brands, timing, etc. Energetic testing gets yes or no answers to questions that can be from scientific perspective. I’m not going to explain energetic testing further here.
Once I did t his, I did not need binders like charcoal, even though those are a useful option. After all, healthy people with the same exposures to toxins don’t need binders: They have the nutrients and electrons to lock-up free radicals and oxidizers to crush invading chemicals or pathogens. Both sides working together are called redox—which is also about general energy production.
It seems that a variety of antioxidants help neutralize and bind the toxins more securely or catch some of them if ALA lets go after a period of time. This decreases symptoms and enables high doses. We are working with the system and the body’s mechanisms of self-regulation in ways we do not fully understand in detail but in principle is correct. Therefore, the right nutrients at the right time in the right amount for targeted purpose should create a better result with less imbalances and gaps. Diversify inputs to handle more problems with fewer weak links.
Now get this: at an advanced stage I did not need to cycle on and off days as is deemed necessary according to Andrew Cutler’s protocol because I eliminated the deficiencies that lead to the need to rest and recover. I have managed to address whatever nutritional imbalances might occur that overwhelm of detox pathways. So I could keep going every day without crashing.
I’m not saying anyone should try this aggressively because I know you don’t have my methods. If you need to take days off, you should. I’m not interested in hearing anyone’s dogmatic objections who cannot believe anyone knows something they don’t—the followers of particular protocols sometimes turn it into a religion.
I next address some of the reasons given for why people need to take days off.
IMBALANCING MINERALS?
There is a concern that chelators that grab toxic metals also bind other health minerals so you need a rest to catch up on nutrition. This is especially of concern with synthetic chelators like dmsa and edta, with sodium edta being designed to pull out calcium deposits. Some worry that ALA can also do this in its role as direct chelator.
First, detox related symptoms are hard to explain since all methods of detox can lead to signs of mineral deficiency like tooth demineralization in the form of cavities and other symptoms like tooth sensitivity. This takes us back to the main question of how you monitor nutrient needs and deficiencies. Detoxification probably speeds up the rate of nutrient consumption that leads to deficiencies at the same level of dietary input of other nutrients that then become the new deficiencies and weak link cofactors in the system.
Second, Andrew Cutler believed that ALA creates an excess of zinc and copper. There are other factors that can imbalance copper and zinc, leading to excess copper toxicity. Nutritional deficiencies of A, magnesium, potassium and sodium are more responsible for copper dysregulation and this is best handled by foundational nutrition involving all foods. When you speed up activity, you can create new deficiencies that can create excesses like copper and iron, being very common.
Third, the concern has been raised with whether ALA can be used to remove excess iron and copper without removing healthy copper and iron. Unbound minerals are the same thing because excess iron and copper are not attached to cofactors and within enzymes so its chemistry is different: unbound copper and iron have positive charges (free radicals) from missing electrons that attract antioxidants/ free radical quenchers. Healthy copper and iron bounded to cofactor nutrients and within enzymes do not have these “loose end” invitations to negatively charged free radical quenchers
I watched my stools turn very dark to near black as a known sign of iron excretion. I had no symptoms suggesting a mineral deficiency.
The main issue is how to utilize ALA better with its direct cofactors and indirect general nutrition for eliminating whatever weak links could create bottlenecks in excretion.
STARTING POINT
Going back to the starting point: basic nutrition is the indirect cofactors of ALA, which is the most important thing for health to energize and support any and all forms of detoxification, and to initiate detox on its own through routine cellular functions: that is how the body heals itself.
There is a lack of methods to customize nutrition. Many people are shopping based on guessing and suggestions they get on Facebook. Lab tests, like a hair mineral test, can give a partial picture but cannot prescribe. Only energetic testing for individuals can determine what will work. I can do that long distance to anywhere in the world. It starts with a free assessement of your root causes.
Understanding the concept of nutritional cofactors is actually the whole of nutrition: how all nutrients work together as system. All nutrients depend on other nutrients as cofactors necessary to absorb other nutrients or construct enzymes, processes, etc., so you need to have all of them in your diet. Your system is only as strong as its weakest links.
Cofactor logic is NOT matching nutrients to symptoms in a universal manner, like this:
“Take this for that.” “How do I biohack X? “
FOUNDATIONAL NUTRITION: Cofactors Together As a System
Way underneath all the symptoms are unique individual nutritional needs starting with deficiencies that are missing cofactors to utilize the nutrients you already have.
There are indirect cofactors and direct cofactors of ALA.
Indirect cofactors are all basic nutritional needs that affect everything. That statement is as seemingly vague as it is profound and you must understand it.
Systems thinking is about energizing all energy pathways of every cell, the mitochondria, which represent your whole system.
If you don’t start with sodium, potassium, and magnesium, you get nowhere. Those are at least indirect cofactors of everything. Morely Robbins explains what happens after that with copper and iron, from direct to indirect connections.
People with many allergies, intolerances and reactive symptoms usually suffer from deficiencies.
Nutrition works best on a diet individualized for you, as people have very different needs.
A basic nutritional foundation that is complete leaving no weak links in deficiencies, excesses and intolerances is necessary to tolerate detoxification by any methods.
Methods for customizing this to individuals are sorely lacking leaving people on their own to shop for diet fads or just avoid whatever they cannot tolerate without fixing the causes. People are often unaware of what they are missing because they have no method to know.
ALA COFACTORS: Anti Oxidant and Oxidizers as a Systems: Redox to Detox
Direct cofactors work directly with ALA: the other antioxidants, C, E, and glutathione. Cofactors work best when increased in proportion.
ALA is also a part of general energy production through dehydrogenase in NAD and NADP. Thus, there are two levels of “for:” detox and energy production for other functions.
ALA itself has direct and indirect effects.
Andrew Cutler treated ALA more as a direct chelator that binds heavy metals.
Christopher Shade says ALA is more important as a recycler of glutathione, a key detoxifier.
Although there is general science on the role of ALA, don’t wait for studies to ask some questions most important to practitioners. Practitioners can lead with innovation to provide anecdotes to suggest what is promising for scientists to study. Research scientists don’t necessarily know what is most urgent to focus on. The research objective is also different: generalize from a large population/sample around relatively few variables, while the practitioner has to deal with the full complexity of N=1, the individual. What I suggest here is a result of my own experimentation of how to make ALA work more comfortably at higher doses with fewer interruptions or time off.
Toward the end of my long detox journey of mercury and many other things, after many years and methods, and mastering all basic nutritional deficiencies, I was able to tolerate and often feel energized on very high doses of ALA, like 600 mg and settling in on 400 as usually the most comfortable, with a lean weight in the 130-140 lb range. That’s a long way up from starting with 10 mg in the beginning as many people do. My tolerance was lower in the beginning because I still had no method for identifying nutritional deficiencies.
Adding pure ascorbates, L ascorbic acid, (vitamin C) the correct form, not buffered with minerals, can take away the yucky feeling from high doses of ALA I have taken ALA to see how I feel without, and then with ascorbates a few minutes later to feel the difference.
It’s not just acorbates, but my body is loaded with the other ALA cofactors: glutathione precursors and E; and the foundational nutrition of right diet, all deficiencies, and all foods and supplements tested and upgraded to best in class. This is a huge qualification on the context of my experiment that will be hard for someone to reproduce. So if you only try ascrobates with ALA, you might not get results I got. Especially if you are not energetically testing quantities, brands, timing, etc. Energetic testing gets yes or no answers to questions that can be from scientific perspective. I’m not going to explain energetic testing further here.
Once I did t his, I did not need binders like charcoal, even though those are a useful option. After all, healthy people with the same exposures to toxins don’t need binders: They have the nutrients and electrons to lock-up free radicals and oxidizers to crush invading chemicals or pathogens. Both sides working together are called redox—which is also about general energy production.
It seems that a variety of antioxidants help neutralize and bind the toxins more securely or catch some of them if ALA lets go after a period of time. This decreases symptoms and enables high doses. We are working with the system and the body’s mechanisms of self-regulation in ways we do not fully understand in detail but in principle is correct. Therefore, the right nutrients at the right time in the right amount for targeted purpose should create a better result with less imbalances and gaps. Diversify inputs to handle more problems with fewer weak links.
Now get this: at an advanced stage I did not need to cycle on and off days as is deemed necessary according to Andrew Cutler’s protocol because I eliminated the deficiencies that lead to the need to rest and recover. I have managed to address whatever nutritional imbalances might occur that overwhelm of detox pathways. So I could keep going every day without crashing.
I’m not saying anyone should try this aggressively because I know you don’t have my methods. If you need to take days off, you should. I’m not interested in hearing anyone’s dogmatic objections who cannot believe anyone knows something they don’t—the followers of particular protocols sometimes turn it into a religion.
I next address some of the reasons given for why people need to take days off.
IMBALANCING MINERALS?
There is a concern that chelators that grab toxic metals also bind other health minerals so you need a rest to catch up on nutrition. This is especially of concern with synthetic chelators like dmsa and edta, with sodium edta being designed to pull out calcium deposits. Some worry that ALA can also do this in its role as direct chelator.
First, detox related symptoms are hard to explain since all methods of detox can lead to signs of mineral deficiency like tooth demineralization in the form of cavities and other symptoms like tooth sensitivity. This takes us back to the main question of how you monitor nutrient needs and deficiencies. Detoxification probably speeds up the rate of nutrient consumption that leads to deficiencies at the same level of dietary input of other nutrients that then become the new deficiencies and weak link cofactors in the system.
Second, Andrew Cutler believed that ALA creates an excess of zinc and copper. There are other factors that can imbalance copper and zinc, leading to excess copper toxicity. Nutritional deficiencies of A, magnesium, potassium and sodium are more responsible for copper dysregulation and this is best handled by foundational nutrition involving all foods. When you speed up activity, you can create new deficiencies that can create excesses like copper and iron, being very common.
Third, the concern has been raised with whether ALA can be used to remove excess iron and copper without removing healthy copper and iron. Unbound minerals are the same thing because excess iron and copper are not attached to cofactors and within enzymes so its chemistry is different: unbound copper and iron have positive charges (free radicals) from missing electrons that attract antioxidants/ free radical quenchers. Healthy copper and iron bounded to cofactor nutrients and within enzymes do not have these “loose end” invitations to negatively charged free radical quenchers
I watched my stools turn very dark to near black as a known sign of iron excretion. I had no symptoms suggesting a mineral deficiency.
The main issue is how to utilize ALA better with its direct cofactors and indirect general nutrition for eliminating whatever weak links could create bottlenecks in excretion.
STARTING POINT
Going back to the starting point: basic nutrition is the indirect cofactors of ALA, which is the most important thing for health to energize and support any and all forms of detoxification, and to initiate detox on its own through routine cellular functions: that is how the body heals itself.
There is a lack of methods to customize nutrition. Many people are shopping based on guessing and suggestions they get on Facebook. Lab tests, like a hair mineral test, can give a partial picture but cannot prescribe. Only energetic testing for individuals can determine what will work. I can do that long distance to anywhere in the world. It starts with a free assessement of your root causes.
Find out what you get in a
Free Assessment
See how I support you fully:
Health Coaching Steps
I work over video: Facebook, Zoom, Google, from Michigan, USA
Hess.PaulC@gmail.com
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Free Assessment
See how I support you fully:
Health Coaching Steps
I work over video: Facebook, Zoom, Google, from Michigan, USA
Hess.PaulC@gmail.com
Join me on Facebook where I blog post. FACEBOOK
