I believe you misunderstand how Na-R-ALA works. Nonetheless, it is psychological as you said, so if it makes you feel better do not use it.
Ive been taking r-ala since 2004. Na-r-ala is 10-30 times more powerful than the r-ala.(Life extension magazine 2007 I have ) Nr-ala is very powerful and glycobol which contains this and other insulin mimetics , two pills are about the equilent of 10 iu's of insulin. A logger Vaugh true did a glucometer test where he compared real insulin to glycobol as glycobol is on parr with insulin on a glucometer.
do you know how insulin works? Insulin works by shuttling carbohydartes into glycogen stores moreso than carbohydrates can do themselves, it opens them up. Moreover, the same effct happens with glycobol, with all the powerful insulin mimteic ingredients, na-r-ala being the most powerful , in my opinion. Furthermore, if a person takes in any fats four hours after insulin ,glycobol, they are stored as bodyfat. That is the reason I am omitting glycobol because I feel me eating half a pound lean beef(93/7) after my postworkout meal coupld possibly cause a little more fat gain than normal. Logically, since glycobol has been compared to insulin, it makes sense to me. That said, I could be wrong , its just something I thought of and its my own thinking.
do I think it matters for people that dont do contest preparation? No. I love glycobol and take it mostly all year I took it in 2010 on my preparation. It just a smidge of a doubt and if I am not 100% sure , I always say leave it alone because there is no chance(at least for me at this stage) to leave anything to chance with everything I know coming into a contest.
If youve done contest preparation and came in "off" before and see the other guy win not because he is more muscular , because he is more ripped it made me wonder, how can I become that ripped? I might have done my best this past time but by God , I must figure out how to be ripped so I can feel my best. Its about constantly improving whether you do competition or not.
here is the glucometer test
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=116095151&p=326440333&viewfull=1#post326440333