ALA before meals?

I've seen a few sites that talk about mercury chelation that mention the possibility of taking ALA not every 4 hours as is commonly suggested, but instead with meals. One site mentioned taking it 100-250mg before breakfast, lunch and dinner (for 3 days, then taking a break for 11 days, Cutler-style).

I've also seen some people say they took ALA every 4 hours only when awake, and didn't force themselves to wake up at night to take it, and still saw very positive longterm results.

Since I am considering adding ALA to my regimen next year after Christmas break is over (I don't want to be in real bad health when I have family over, so that's my reason for specifically holding off), I'd like to know if others think this is a good idea? I understand that Cutler's protocol is probably the best; as I've seen mentioned, the "every 4 hours" thing is supposed to reduce the feeling of redistribution.

But has anyone here either had success with, or heard of, taking ALA in a different protocol, even if only slightly modified?