Before you drink Ayahuasca an Ayahuasca Diet(a) prepares you to drink safely and after drinking keeping your diet(a) ensures the maximin benefit is bestowed to you. Let’s look at how to undertake an Ayahuasca Diet(a) and give you some recipes to prepare.
** Anything you read in this article should not take precedence over the advice of your qualified retreat center **
What is an Ayahuasca Diet(a)?
** You may have dietary guidelines from your retreat also and those should take precedence over the things I’m saying in this post. **
An Ayahuasca Diet(a) is a 3 day – 4 week process (depending on your level of commitment) of excluding certain foods, substances, liquids and ‘energetic influences’ (like sex) so that you physically cleanse your body of toxins and mentally start to soften your ego **. The Dieta is also a safety precaution for those who may be taking contraindicating (ie dangerous in combination with) pharmaceuticals, foods and those who may have specific health issues.
In place of the things which you remove the aim is to up the intake of neutralizing (in terms of PH level) foods, drinks and influences and reduce or remove sexual activity for a time. I’ll go through what things specifically to reduce and remove at a later date.
** Drinking Ayahuasca is an ego dissolving experience and while the bulk of it will be done in ceremony abiding by these rules will start the process subtly. Think of it like stretching before sprinting 700m. Its good to warm up first except that with the case of The Ego its perhaps like smoothing and reducing the grip of The Ego prior to drinking.
What foods and drinks to remove from your diet?
** NB: You will see a lot of variation to the Ayahuasca Diet based on who is advising you. **
According to Gaia Sagrada an Ayahuasca Diet should remove,
- Garlic,
- Hot spices,
- Fat from meat,
- No pork, red meat, chicken, ONLY fish is ok,
- Fermented foods,
- Wine, beer or hard alcohol,
- Processed foods (Nothing in a box or can with ingredients you can’t pronounce).
If you want a very strict Ayahuasca Diet then you should remove everything but,
- Fish,
- Plantains,
- Rice,
- Green Bananas,
- Yucca,
- Water.
What foods and drinks to promote in an Ayahuasca diet?
Gaia Sagrada also recommends these foods generally to promote,
- Olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Honey
- Stevia
- A little dairy but not a lot of dairy: yogurt, small amount of milk
- Rice, quinoa, amaranth
- Fish
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Nuts
- Eggs
What ‘energetic influences’ should you remove (and promote)?
The overall aim of removing/adding energetic influences is to decrease the grip of The Ego and promote Prana in your body to aid your spiritual potency. Prana or Chi could be described as a ‘bio-field’ or ‘electro-magnetic field’ produced by the human body. It is this energy which is used in spiritual practices and the actions below represent an attempt to increase this energy in your body to aid your ceremonies. Even if you are not a spiritual person then please aim to follow these instructions to illicit a powerful and effective ceremony.
Sex:
Sex should be removed or reduced significantly (including masturbation) for the period of Ayahuasca Diet (recommended length of time to do a dieta is below but often 3 days – 4 weeks). Of course this may be difficult for various reasons but if you could limit sex or masturbation to twice per week in your preparations and none at all for 3 days prior to ceremony you will have done what you can to increase your Prana.
Sexual energy is very potent and a build up of this can aid the potency of your ceremonies. As a replacement perhaps you could do something non-sexual with your partner which is also bonding but is not sex or one other spiritual practice you could do is to meditate, do yin yoga, breathing exercises or take up a mantra. For eg while breathing in and out deeply from your diaphragm imagine the sexual energy you feel moving up from your lower chakras to along the spinal cord and spine all the way up to your crown chakra at the top of your head. If you do this slowly for 10 minutes instead of sex or masturbation you will slowly start to notice that energy move away from your lower chakras to be further distributed through out your body and higher chakras.
If this is too advanced a technique I would recommend finding a yin yoga video on YouTube and doing that for 45 minutes to an hour in lieu of sexual activities.
Hobbies:
If you have sporting hobbies or reading or social media habits refrain or reduce the times you have for these activities. Replace them with the above recommendations like Yin Yoga, breathing, meditation etc.
Other:
If you do any other activities which inflame The Ego like debating politics or arguing with your kids or ay such ego promoting activity then also try to replace these with yoga, meditation and similar activities to the above.
Guiding rule – Sacrifice:
Even if you have not been perfect make a solemn and significant effort to prepare and you will have satisfied La Madre in many cases and could look forward to greater reward and healing or spiritual advancement. La Madre de Ayahuasca (the spirit who you are in contact with while doing an Ayahuasca ceremony) will appreciate that you sacrificed and committed as much as possible but beware those who are flippant with preparing. La Madre has no problem in humbling you in ceremony in various ways if you show up unprepared and not-committed.
When should you start your diet?
Ideally start and continue an Ayahuasca diet between 2 and 4 weeks prior to drinking Ayahuasca depending on your commitment to the process however, if this is too much do at least a 3 day preparation. Remember the more you commit to the process the more you get out of your ceremonies.
The role of Tyramine in dietary preparations:
I discuss why certain pharmaceuticals are required to be removed in the next section but here it’s important to know why one aspect of safety that the Ayahuasca Diet offers as we prepare to drink. The short answer is excess Tyramine in your system can be dangerous and can be added to your system by certain foods and drinks you may be consuming in your normal day to day life.
Tyramine is contained in certain foods like ripe fruit and fermented foods and in large amounts can raise your blood pressure. Your blood pressure will also be raised by the MAOI’s contained in the Ayahuasca brew and hence any extra Tyramine could lead to heart issues for some participants. As such Tyramine is reduced via the kind of foods you can take in.
Next, it is also important to physically clear toxins from your body so that you purge less in your ceremony. If you have a lot of toxins in your body then it’s possible to spend more time purging than receiving visions and healing etc. You didn’t come all the way to an Ayahuasca Ceremony to purge your way through your ceremonies. Use the time wisely and that starts with a clean diet.
TIP: In my ceremonies I would purge (throw up) perhaps 1-3 times. As I did more ceremonies I purged less. I didn’t really feel nauseous or sick as some people might associate with throwing up. It was mostly very matter of fact. ‘OK purge now and carry on’. I think my first or second ceremony this was not the case and did feel some nausea.
Finally you’ll get more out of your Ayahuasca experience if you undertake a diet(a) before and after. That is to say, the effect of Ayahuasca’s healing upon you is more likely to be deeper and more effective if you can undertake a diet(a).
Ayahuasca and pharmaceuticals medications
** You may have guidelines from your retreat also and those should take precedence over the things I’m saying in this post. **
Following Gaia Sagrada’s preparation advice further you should remove,
- Pharmaceuticals EXCEPT for heart issues, high blood pressure, diabetes and life threatening illnesses
- Absolutely NO pharmaceuticals for depression, psychosis or mental illnesses (dangerous in combination with Ayahuasca) Antihistamines are also prohibited.
When should you remove pharmaceuticals?
This really depends on the medication itself as each one has it’s own half-life and therefore time that it takes to leave your system completely. Generally speaking 6-8 weeks prior to drinking Ayahuasca wouldn’t be unheard of however, that advice could vary depending on the specific medication.
To get specifics on this I would recommend you,
- consult your doctor.
- Read Gaia Sagrada’s Medical Safety Advice. They are a well retreat in Ecuador.
- Read the MAPS website which talks about specific medications to look to cut out. This isn’t an exhaustive list so, after looking at this you are not clear it would be best to speak with a doctor about your particular case.
Ayahuasca Diet Recipe Book
I am planning on creating an Ayahuasca Diet Book with recipes, great images and general Ayahuasca topics so if you are interested in that send me an email and I’ll send you a free copy (probably a digital version) when it’s ready.
In the meantime I did write a free PDF of Ayahuasca Recipes you may be interested in.
I have also written several other posts with recipes you may want to check out,
- 27 Ayahuasca Diet Recipes
- Recipe Inspiration (you will need to tweak these recipes according to the above rules)
- More Ayahuasca Diet Recipes
