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Guests at our ayahuasca retreats in Ecuador often want to know how to prepare for their ayahuasca experience, especially when it comes to a so-called “ayahuasca diet”.
May 21, 2022 – We will be posting ayahuasca diet recipes in the coming days – please be patient!

Aya diet – is it necessary?

You’ll get different answers to this question depending on who you ask. The concept of an aya diet or a pre-ayahuasca diet has grown in popularity in large part due to western influence, the same way ayahuasca medicine has grown in popularity across continents.

That said, indigenous people and nationals in Ecuador and Peru will frequently follow a cleansing, medicinal plant-based diet before certain rituals and it is generally recommended to cleanse your body in the days and weeks leading up to an ayahuasca ceremony, both in terms of energetic cleansing and physical cleansing. 

However, following an ayahuasca diet is by no means a requirement and, quite often, doesn’t necessarily make a big difference. Many people might disagree with this last statement, but in all the years that we’ve organized ayahuasca ceremonies, we’ve noticed that the medicine will work regardless. 

What is of much more relevance is if you are taking anti-depressants and wish to participate in an ayahuasca retreat. If that is the case, remember to inform your chosen ayahuasca retreat center as soon as you can since they may require you to gradually wean off of the medication with the supervision of your psychiatrist.

“The spirit of ayahuasca doesn’t care if you ate fried chicken wings last week; she meets you where you are.” – Taita

Should I fast before an ayahuasca retreat?

The short answer is: Fast from 4pm the day of your ayahuasca ceremony. 

If your ayahuasca ceremony starts around 9pm, make sure you eat a hearty breakfast the morning of the ceremony and then a light lunch i.e. soup or salad. If your ceremony begins at 9pm, you should fast completely from food (not liquids) from 4pm. Some people with particularly fast metabolisms may feel extremely hungry in the hour or two before the ceremony. If you need it, eat a piece of fruit.

Fasting is not required before an ayahuasca ceremony, but what you want to avoid is going into the ceremony when your stomach is busy digesting things. In this case, the medicine may take longer to work or it may lead to more nausea. Purging food also makes for a way less pleasurable purging experience.

Intermittent fasting in the days and weeks leading up to an ayahuasca ceremony is also fine and is very healthy generally. However, make sure you are not fasting so much that you feel weak when you walk into the ceremony. There is a difference between going to the ceremony on an empty stomach and going to a ceremony in a weakened state due to fasting. 

If you insist on fasting (24-48 hr fasts) before your ayahuasca experience, keep in mind that you may experience added discomfort after drinking the medicine. Ayahuasca, as you might already know, tends to cause nausea, purging and even stomach cramps. It can be quite heavy on the stomach if you’ve been undergoing an extended fast.

Rather than fasting in the days before a ceremony, follow an “ayahuasca diet” or perhaps more simply, just eat healthily. Whole foods + plant-based + vegan is always a clean and healthy approach.

Ayahuasca diet list

Here’s a quick and simple ayahuasca diet list to keep in mind in the weeks before your ayahuasca retreat:

Avoid (if you can’t cut it out completely, simply reduce the quantity as much as possible): 

• Saturated fats
• Sugar
• Alcohol
• Anything with colorants and/or preservatives, MSG – fake stuff
• Processed food – especially white flour (pastas, bread – all that good stuff, sorry 🙂
• Fried food
• Meats, especially pork/sausage

In addition to that, many people (including shamans in Ecuador), recommend avoiding:

• garlic
• fermented foods
• caffeine
• dairy
• spicy food

We recognize that removing all of the above from your diet makes for quite a sad and boring life. In all honesty, don’t put yourself through too much suffering, you will suffer enough when drinking ayahuasca (and we mean that in a good way!).

How long should you follow the ayahuasca diet before your ayahuasca ceremony?

If you’re committed to following a cleaning diet before you ayahuasca experience, aim for 7-14 days of dieting. The longer, the better, as you might imagine. 

Some retreat centers may strongly recommend dieting and provide a very “clean” menu during the retreat, but many retreat centers offer a basic meal plan during the retreat and don’t require dieting at all. Nowadays, you’ll come across both types and many in between. 

We find that retreat centers and guests tend to make a much bigger deal about dieting than is necessary. In fact, some of the strongest healing may happen in an isolated indigenous community working with a curandero that feeds you chicken soup an hour before your ayahuasca ceremony.

Recreational drugs and ayahuasca

Avoid consuming recreational drugs at least 2 weeks before your ayahuasca retreat, especially synthetic drugs, although the same applies to marijuana. Marijuana, in particular, may block the effects of ayahuasca so, while it may seem harmless enough to smoke in the days leading up to a ceremony, it might take away from your ayahuasca experience. CBD is fine to take, however.

If you’re dealing with substance addiction, you should feel more than welcome at an ayahuasca retreat. Ayahuasca can be very effective against addiction and the traumas that lead to addiction. However, be honest about your addiction. This is for your own health and safety. The more retreat centers or ceremony guides know about your state and/or condition, the more they will be able to help you, be it in terms of dosing or energetic cleansing or simply emotional support before, during and after a ceremony.

Medication and ayahuasca

If you have a health condition that requires medication, you will likely be able to continue taking the medication leading up to, and during, your ayahuasca retreat. Every ayahuasca retreat center is different and you should always inform them of your medical condition and the medication you are taking before registering and paying for your retreat. 

Many people seeking a healing ayahuasca experience are depressed. Many people are depressed. Period. Can you still drink ayahuasca if you are on anti-depressants? Yes, you can, but it comes with certain risks and the best thing is to gradually wean yourself off anti depressants in the months leading up to a retreat. If you don’t have that time, discuss other options with the retreat center of your choice.

Ayahuasca diet vs ayahuasca dieta

There is, in fact, a difference between these two terms, although they appear to say the same thing.

The ayahuasca diet refers to the light, cleansing detox diet we just covered (avoiding sugar, alcohol etc).
The ayahuasca dieta, is a term used more commonly by healers from the Amazon referring to their own concept of a detox diet prior to consuming ayahuasca. This dieta often includes products of the region including yucca/manioc, plantain, rice, potatoes, eggs, chicken and fish.

If you decide to do an ayahuasca cleanse and ceremony with a local shaman from the Amazon, this may be the diet they prescribe and provide to you during your stay.