"I'm a vegan biohacker. (Aspiring biohacker?)

I learned about Alpha Lipoic Acid from Tim Ferriss in his book The Four Hour Body. In the PAGG chapter, he describes a four-supplement stack that can accelerate weight loss without any changes to diet or exercise. I won't try to regurgitate the chapter here, but Alpha Lipoic Acid is the "A" in PAGG. Tim Ferriss describes the PAGG stack as a four-times daily regimen, with Alpha Lipoic Acid taken at each of the four dosings. (He omits some of the other supplements at certain times of the day.)

Alpha Lipoic Acid is a chelator, which is a fancy word meaning that it binds to heavy metals in the body and escorts them out. However, ALA has a relatively short half-life (apparently only 30 minutes?). When the ALA degrades, it drops the mercury right where it was in the bloodstream where it degraded. Because of the short half-life, you need to take ALA around the clock, at least four times a day to keep it available in your system.

(Take me with a grain of salt. I'm just some guy on an amazon review without any citations. At least go read the Alpha Lipoic Acid page on Examine.com before buying this?)

I'm a vegan now (for four years and change), but I was a heavy sardine eater before transitioning to veganism. Michael Greger of nutritionfacts.org says that you should be excreting heavy metals slowly over time if you're not putting any new ones into your body, so I thought I was fine? I had a thought kicking around in the back of my head that I should try doing an Alpha Lipoic Acid cleanse for a week sometime, maybe? I threw it on a todo list, and then eventually I looked at the todo list and said "might as well."

Also, I've been overly sensitive to environmental toxins. My office interior was repainted a few months ago (with low VOC paint?), and I couldn't stand to be around the paint smell. None of my coworkers had a problem with the smell though? From that experience (and a few podcasts describing similar experiences), I've suspected that I have a chronically high level of toxins in my body that makes me unable to deal with any added load.

My protocol for this "cleanse" (not planning on doing this for longer than a week or two) is to take Alpha Lipoic Acid four times a day: 8am, 12n, 4p, 8p. I'm also way undershooting the dosage right now; I'm only taking one pill from this bottle at each of these times. (Each pill is 200mg ALA, the bottle recommends 3 pills as a serving, 2400mg/day is the upper daily safe limit. I'm basically at 800mg/day spread out into four dosings.)

Dear reader, I am writing this to you after lunch on the first day of this protocol. I've taken only two pills of this -- one with breakfast, one with lunch. I didn't feel anything after breakfast, but after lunch, I felt like a bubble around me just popped. I haven't felt clarity like this in a long time.

I'm overweight now, and I've had trouble losing the weight that I gained immediately after graduating college. I've been telling myself that I gained the weight because I wasn't getting much exercise. However, this was also the same time that I added sardines into my diet. Maybe my body was dealing with the mercury in the sardines by storing it in my belly fat?

In other words, I'm wondering if ALA will make me lose weight. Time will tell! I may update this review in a couple weeks or months with more thoughts."

"I've been using alpha lipoic acid for over a year now and it helps neuropathy noticeably. It's my first time with this particular brand and I have found it to be as good as any other at a great price. I will definitely reorder."

"Bought to help repair my gut from ibuprofen usage. Working to repair the damage."