Don’t eat much is the short answer but, if you do it should be according to the Ayahuasca Diet and you should try not to eat or drink much for about 6-8 hours before the start of the ceremony itself.
Why should you not eat very much?
During an Ayahuasca Ceremony it is likely you will purge. Purging consists of either throwing up of need to ‘go no. 2’ but could even be both. Sounds gross right but don’t worry it’s not that bad if you’ve been on the diet and even when you do you feel great about it – you are purging ‘negative stuff’ so you do feel good once it’s done.
If you were to eat a lot prior to a ceremony you are likely to throw it up and hence you ideally want to restrict food intake for 6-8 hours beforehand.
It’s important to note that while it’s normal to purge, you don’t want to spend more time purging than you need to. It’s better to purge at a minimum and keep as much time for having hallucinations or communicating with Mother Ayahuasca. Another reason to restrict your eating the day of.
The Ayahuasca Diet:
OK, so you are going to restrict your eating the day of but you are still allowed to eat something. For example, usually Ayahuasca Ceremonies (at least in South America) are held at night and hence I usually eat breakfast and a light lunch. In saying that I eat according to a particular diet.
That diet is more or less similar to a vegan diet however, with more restrictions. For example, no salt and cooking oils. I created a more detailed description of exactly what to eat on the diet which you can read here.
If you re in a hurry and just want to know a few basic examples of some meals you can prepare the day of then here is a quick 2 meal list.
- Breakfast: Porridge, walnuts, chopped apple. 3 glasses of water.
- Lunch: Quinoa (or brown rice), beetroot, carrot, cabbage, broccoli salad (just grate it all up). Cooked lentils.
- Snacks (if necessary): Fruit but not over-ripened fruit.
- Drinks: Stick to water or herbal tea like ginger and honey.
If you are unsure what to eat then, you can check this list of things to avoid on an Ayahuasca diet by Gaia Sagrada.
How long should you go on a Ayahuasca Diet before ceremony?
Obviously you should be on diet the day of the ceremony but also you should be on the diet leading up to the ceremony. How long depends a little on you but basically you should do it for as long as you possibly can. My advice is that you should do at least 3 days but if you can do 2-4 weeks then you are more likely to get more deep Ayahuasca Experience.
Check this link for more information about the diet.
Ayahuasca Recipes:
If you would like further recipes to prepare for Ayahuasca then check out this link. I have written several articles given recipe ideas.
- Ayahuasca Diet Recipes
- 19 Ayahuasca Recipes
- 27 Ayahuasca Diet Recipes
- Here is a downloadable PDF with many of these recipes in it.
Eating and drinking during the ceremony:
During the ceremony you should refrain from eating anything. You may be throwing it up very soon so there isn’t much point!
You could drink a little water but, just wet your whistle slightly. Don’t go drinking more than a few hundred milli-litres as you may well throw it up. When I do drink water in ceremony its just after drinking the actual Ayahuasca itself as it doesn’t taste very good. After I’ve drunk I take a half mouthful of water and wash my mouth out but don’t actually swallow. Instead, I spit out the water into the bucket which is provided.
Eating after ceremony:
Directly after ceremony, you can start to eat again but generally I don’t feel like eating very much. I might have a few pieces of fruit and a tea or some water.
It’s important to note that in South America it’s common to do several Ayahuasca Ceremonies in a given week (or more – some people do weeks or months of multiple ceremonies per week) and to take a day off between ceremonies. Ceremonies also last around 4 hours but could vary depending on how many people are in the ceremony.
The main reason why I mention that is that, I wanted to mention that I ate as much as I wanted the day after. All according to the Ayahuasca Diet of course.
Eating after you’ve finished ceremonies:
Once you’ve finished your one or more Ayahuasca ceremonies then it is advised that you should continue the Ayahuasca Diet for at least 3 days but several weeks would be better. This ensures that you keep a connection with Ayahuasca and let it continue to work or at least this is what I have read from researching online. I followed this advice myself and to be honest I think that there may be something to that but if I were to put it into words it would be that by following the diet afterwards for a long time you are following through with a high level of commitment and I think that this means you are really serious about making the necessary changes that Ayahuasca can help you to do.
You see, many people come to Ayahuasca as a way to help them solve particular issues that they may have. For example, depression, negative thought patterns and other behavioral changes. Those aren’t the only benefits of Ayahuasca but just a couple.
