How to prepare
for your Ayahausca experience

If you research the "Ayahuasca diet" you'll encounter lists of what not to eat and some of these differ. The lists usually discourage or forbid red meat and pork, salt, hot spices, alcohol, drugs and medication, avocados and other items. At a minimum all these things should be strictly avoided before ceremony. That doesn't mean you have to suffer, though. If there was ever a time in your life to get turned on to good vegetarian or vegan cuisine, this is the time. You can eat delicious, simple food for a couple of weeks before your big experience, which isn't much of a sacrifice. Moreover following dieting rules will boost your experience.
We guess thousands of years of experimentation taught the indigenous people of the Amazon a thing or two, huh?

Mostly, food dieting process is connected with an amount of tyramine in some products that can cause negative symptoms in combination with b.caapi (Ayahuasca) vine. It also requires sexual dieting because with this type of energy you can balance the energy of Ayahuasca and stay in a right connection with the plant. The final part is about some sort of medication (especially antidepressants, stimulates and ambients), alcohol and recreational drugs that has to be avoid 10-14 days before the retreat.
(Please inform us about any of mentioned factors in the participant form if needed so we can advise the best way to prepare due to your case)

Below are essential blocks of different food that you can combine into dishes due to your diet.

• Proteins: chicken, white meat fish (sole, tilapia, halibut, trout, snapper)
• Grains: rice, lentils, quinoa, wheat berries, amaranth, whole wheat, spelt, kamut
• Veggies: ALL vegetables EXCEPT onions, garlic, tomatoes, leeks or radishes
• Fruits: berries, apples
• Raw nuts + seeds: all nuts except peanuts, raw hemp seeds
• Beverages: Herbal teas, coconut water, nut milks, water
*(This list does not include ALL possible food, please take it as an example and sample, not a holy script :) )

We suppose you can easily make some great dishes from this food. Try nor to fry this but boil or steam, The main thing is to remember about restrictions.

Here is a well done list of restrictions:

• No salts (e.g table salt, soy sauce, fish sauce, etc.)
• No sugar or artificial sweeteners (stevia, aspartame, agave, honey, etc)
• No pork/red meat (for fourteen days before a ceremony)
• No shellfish
• No caffeine (coffee, soda, chocolate)
• No animal fat (lard, etc.)
• No dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt)
• No oil (except coconut/olive oil very sparingly for cooking)
• No seaweed, kelp, dulce, arame
• No hot spices/chilies/pepper
• No citrus
• No vinegar or pickled foods
• No fermented foods (kimchi, tofu, tempeh)
• No tomatoes
• No onion or garlic
• No avocado (3 days prior to ceremony)
• No yeast or yeast extracts (simple unleavened, unsalted breads are okay)
• No alcohol
• No recreational or prescription drugs (unless approved by your healing center/shaman)
• No fluoride toothpaste (optional)
• No sexual activity, including masturbation
• No discordant music, reading, media, or movies

Always remember that dieting before Ayahuasca is not only about interaction of chemical ingredients. It is the process when we cut several things off your life as food, sex, drugs and etc. to look inside and understand our intention for the retreat, detox your body and mind as well as show respect to the process and the plant. This process influences the quality of the future experience.

You'll be encouraged to "set an intention" for your ceremony. This can be perplexing to newbies, who may be there for a wide variety of reasons, including healing, self exploring or even thrill-seeking. The fact is, the medicine meets you half way: You must make an effort to ask questions and interpret the lessons. This is work, and you'll find out quickly why no one would ever drink ayahuasca as a recreational drug. As the shamans often say, if you bring no intention to the ceremony, you may see a pretty light show and colors and not much else. Your intention should be very personal and be connected with your feelings. The intention is not about any logical structures it is about your very honest feelings.

This question is much more tricky than it seems. The problem is that on the one hand it is vital to understand what is Ayahuasca experience and why you made a decision to participate in a ceremony. On the other hand if you get too mach expectations is might be a block that will not allow you to be open for the real experience. The truth is that even after reading 100 books you will be wrong about what the ceremony is before your very first ceremony.
So we advise to reed and watch but don't make things up in your head, don't bring too much expectations for the ceremony and stay open.

We can advise these 3 books that talk about Ayahuasca and Shamanism in different ways.

Also you can visit Kahpi website and subscribe for Ayahuasca Courses. A lot of information on their website is incredibly helpful for the right understanding of Ayahuasca as a Medicine:

When you are going to Ayahuasca ceremony you are asking the spirit of medicine for help. In return the only thing you can provide is your respect and discipline in the way of the right way of preparation for the ceremony, following the rules of the ceremony and implementation of the knowledge you got into your everyday life.