The Diet For Ayahuasca: Just How Important Is It?

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Before sitting in an Ayahuasca ceremony, it’s common practice to follow a specific diet – or dieta – for anywhere between a few days to a couple of weeks. The diet for Ayahuasca serves an important function – which is to prepare and restore the body and mind to optimal states for the medicine to work with.

People often consider the diet for Ayahuasca to be an essential part of the experience, one that many claim can have severe adverse effects if not adhered to. But is the Ayahuasca diet absolutely necessary, or has its significance been exaggerated over the years?

Although some people stick to the diet for Ayahuasca religiously, it’s actually more of a suggestion than a mandatory regime that must be adhered to. Here I’ll explain what the diet for Ayahuasca is, what role it plays in the preparation of an Ayahuasca ceremony, and how you should navigate it when anticipating an upcoming ceremony.

What is the purpose of a diet for Ayahuasca?

The Ayahuasca diet can be seen as a period of physical and mental preparation preceding an Ayahuasca ceremony. It’s a standard protocol in which the participant adheres to a strict diet and cuts out any impurities that may negatively interact with the medicine.

In a nutshell, the purpose of a diet for Ayahuasca is to restore the body to a neutral state – which facilitates an easier passage to commune with the medicine.

Think of it this way.

If the medicine acts as a bridge to spirit, impurities act as roadblocks. Impurities in the form of oil, refined sugar, alcohol, and artificial chemicals can act as obstacles for the medicine to work through you. If you have a lot of garbage in your body, the medicine needs to remove the garbage before it can get to the real stuff!

Imagine that your mind and body are a sponge. The medicine soaks into this sponge and permeates every fiber of it – which allows it to dredge up trauma, discard impurities, and clear blockages. If this sponge is already soaked with dirty water, the medicine won’t be able to do its job properly because it needs to compete with that dirty water.

On the other hand, if you’re in a pure (or as pure as possible) state, the medicine can more easily seep into every crevice of your mind and body to facilitate deeper levels of healing and transformation.

Many people take the diet for Ayahuasca very seriously and believe that it heavily influences the journey. Undergoing a dieta, at least for a few days is heavily recommended, but what does it actually change?

How does the Ayahuasca dieta influence the Ayahuasca journey?

There are a few reasons why it’s important to have a clean vessel when working with this sacred plant. In the same way that consuming too much junk can make us mentally cloudy and lethargic, having excessive impurities in your body can cloud the Ayahuasca journey. First off, when you are in a good state of health, the Ayahuasca journey is likely to be:

Clearer: Insights, realizations, and reflections tend to make more sense. Messages also tend to come through with more clarity.
More vivid: The visuals, journeys, and accompanying information tend to be more cohesive and vivid rather than vague and confusing.
Easier: Often people purge less and have smoother experiences because the medicine has fewer impurities to remove.
More healing: Ayahuasca generally moves the needle more on your healing when fewer impurities are obscuring it.

When your body is in poor form, you will likely purge more as the medicine needs to remove a lot of this surface junk before it can get to the core issues. Instead of all of the medicine going towards the deeper issues you’re there to resolve, much of the energy will be wasted clearing up superficial junk that you can do yourself.

With that said, Ayahuasca is a powerful medicine. You want to be prepared when you take it because you’re setting yourself up for a bad trip if you aren’t. If you have been filling your body with crap and don’t feel at your best, these dense feelings will likely translate into the experience.

In my opinion, the medicine seems to punish people when they have been disrespecting their bodies before taking the medicine. Believe me, you will know when you’re getting punished by Mother Aya.

There have been times when I figuratively spat on the dieta by drinking alcohol and smoking many cigarettes the night before a ceremony, then filling up on meat and fried food the day of the ceremony. Needless to say, the medicine gave me an ass-whooping.

During the times I didn’t diet before an Ayahuasca ceremony, the experiences were generally very unpleasant. They were dark, uninsightful, and usually involved my head slumped in the vomit bucket the entire night. Occasionally the purging would last for hours and empty my tank completely, leaving me exhausted – praying for the experience to come to an end.

But horror stories aside, there have been times when I didn’t take the dieta too seriously and also had wonderful experiences. So I think there’s more at play than just what you put into your body.

In my experience, a contributing factor to these rather brutal episodes was not necessarily how I treated my body, but because I disrespected the medicine. Ayahuasca is an intelligent spirit. It knows when you’re not taking it seriously, and you know when it knows that you’re not taking it seriously.

When you disrespect the medicine by loading up on crap before a ceremony, the medicine seems to respond. Sometimes it will give you hell, other times it may block you out completely. Regardless, you’re likely to have a sub-par experience if your body is in a poor state when working with the medicine.

What's involved in the diet for Ayahausca?

When people prepare for an Ayahuasca ceremony, they often cut out anything that can be considered an impurity. As the purpose of an Ayahuasca dieta is to restore your mind and body to their optimal states which bridges a stronger connection to the spirit of Ayahuasca, it is necessary to cut out the junk.

However, there are two sides to the Ayahuasca diet, the physical dieta, and the lesser-known estranged cousin – the mental dieta. One side pertains to what you consume, which is what usually comes to mind when referring to an Ayahuasca dieta, and the other side pertains to mental preparation.

Both are necessary components.

Traditionally, medicine men and individuals from Indigenous communities practiced rituals where they spent time in solitude in the jungle while sticking to an extremely raw diet in preparation for an Ayahuasca ceremony. They would have no social contact, and spend their time connecting with nature and the plants they consume.

Nowadays, master plant dietas are still available at certain medicine centers, but they’re not necessary when preparing for Ayahuasca. Rather, they have become a practice for connecting with other master plants. Depending on how strict you want to be with yourself, you can either do a moderate diet or a strict diet in preparation for an Ayahuasca ceremony.

A strict Ayahuasca dieta narrows you down to essentially green plantains, grains, and rice. It limits you to a very raw diet, but this level of diet is not necessary unless you’re doing a formal master plant dieta under the guidance of trained curanderos. For a normal diet for Ayahuasca, here’s what you should avoid:

Avoid salt and other seasonings: Salt can disrupt the purification process and affect the body’s natural rhythms.
Avoid spicy foods or ingredients: Spicy foods can be harsh on the digestive system and cause discomfort during the ceremony and purging.
Avoid refined sugar: Refined sugar can also disrupt the purification process.
Avoid allium: Believed to interfere with the body’s sensitivity to the medicine and may affect the flavor profile of ayahuasca during the purge.
Avoid meat: Red meats such as pork and beef are often considered ‘dirty energy’
Avoid dairy: Dairy can cause mucus build-up, potentially interfering with the ayahuasca experience.
Avoid alcohol: Alcohol is energetically dense, ‘contaminates’ the body, and can interfere with Ayahuasca.
Avoid fermented products: Fermented foods contain tyramine, which can interact with MAO inhibitors and cause negative side effects.
Avoid coffee and other stimulants: Stimulants can heighten anxiety and interfere with the meditative state needed for the ceremony.
Avoid industrial cigarettes: Commercial tobacco is loaded with dirty chemicals and impurities. Using raw tobacco or Mapacho is okay.
Avoid taking any other plant medicines: Different plants, spirits, and energies can interact poorly with one another, potentially causing unpredictable results.
Avoid any medication if possible: Most forms of medication contain harmful chemicals and impurities. If you must take a particular medication, make sure that you communicate it with the center you’re going to.
Avoid processed food if possible: Generally, the more processed a food is, the more impure it becomes.
Fatty foods: Fatty foods can slow down digestion and make the ayahuasca harder to absorb

You don’t need to be a grade-A student and adhere to everything. Small amounts of impurities are generally okay, just make sure it’s in moderation and you’re feeling healthy before consuming Ayahuasca.

With that said, I would draw a hard line when it comes to alcohol, medications, drugs, and other plant medicines. There are certain things you don’t want to mess around with. Although, generally it will be fine, certain combinations can be lethal, and everyone reacts differently. Stay away from mind-altering substances and give your mind and body the needed space to be working with such a powerful teacher plant.

Now, here’s what you should stick to:

Fruits: Preferably bland or non-acidic fruit like apples, bananas, and papayas.
Vegetables: Steamed or boiled, avoiding strong-tasting ones like broccoli.
Grains: Rice, quinoa, and oats (unseasoned and unsalted).
Legumes: Lentils, beans, and chickpeas (without heavy seasoning).
Herbal teas: Chamomile, peppermint, or ginger tea (no caffeine).

Ideally, you want to stick to food that is straight from the source to soak up as much pure life energy as possible. Sticking to a diet that consists mostly of fruit, vegetables, nuts, and grains is the best way to restore your body to a clean slate and give you the best possible experience.

Why a mental detox is also necessary

Now let’s look at the other side of the coin. Taking care of your body and cutting out impurities during the diet for Ayahuasca is one thing, but it’s also important to mentally detox to prepare your mind for the experience.

The sewage trapped in your mind often manifests in your experiences. I learned this during several ceremonies after being focused on the negativity of the world including political situations, world events, and the dark underbelly of society.

As a result of this constant negativity (or focus) compounded by social media and ‘news’, my Ayahuasca journeys during these periods were dark as the medicine flushed out a lot of junk from my subconscious.

Rather than the medicine focusing on other things, the focus of some of these experiences was to get out all the crap I’ve been filling my head with. This process is as unpleasant as it is wasteful.

Now I see why it’s important to not only physically cleanse before a ceremony but to mentally cleanse too. Mentally detoxing before an Ayahuasca ceremony ensures that your mind is in its best possible state to work with the medicine.

To mentally detox yourself, I suggest:

Avoiding social media as much as possible in the days leading up to the ceremony
Spacing yourself from work as much as possible leading up to the ceremony
Getting your mind off from politics and current world events (focus on yourself)
Spending plenty of time in nature
Focusing on being present with your thoughts and feelings
Spend more time reflecting, meditating, and being mindful
Eating and drinking consciously
Focusing on what you want to create in your life, rather than what you want to avoid

Is the diet for Ayahuasca necessary?

The diet for Ayahuasca can be a powerful aid, but it’s not entirely necessary.

In my experiences, I generally notice near to no differences in the journeys when I’m on a strict diet as opposed to a lenient diet. As long as I’m in relatively good health when consummating the medicine, the experience can be just as profound if I don’t adhere to a strict diet.

Don’t get me wrong, you do want your body to be in a clean state when consummating the medicine, but it’s not necessary to do a strict diet in which you cut out all impurities. The diet for Ayahuasca serves more as a suggestion, not a requirement, however adhering to a healthy diet before your ceremony can improve your experience.

My advice is to look after your body and treat it well in the days leading up to a ceremony. I suggest abstaining from alcohol, fast food, highly processed food, and anything that is quite costly to your health. The smaller pleasures like drinking a coffee or having some chocolate in the days leading up to the ceremony I believe have a minimal effect, at least according to my own experiences.

However, how strict you want to be with the Ayahuasca diet is completely up to you.

In my opinion, the healthier you are, the less important a diet for Ayahuasca is. On the other hand, if you’re feeling unhealthy, it’s best to do a diet to restore your body to optimal health before working with Ayahuasca.

Therefore, look at the diet as a tool to get your body into shape for the medicine rather than a strict procedure you must adhere to. Generally, a few days of adhering to a relatively healthy diet is fine. A couple of weeks can be overkill unless you’re very dedicated to the medicine and want to exercise your discipline.

With that said, Ayahuasca is a beautiful medicine that offers beautiful experiences. Enjoy your travels and most importantly, respect the spirit.