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Integrated approach

Before allowing yourself to move to a new level, you need to limit yourself in some things. Or rather, in many things. After all, cleansing involves 5 aspects:

• Nutritional. On the eve of the ceremony, you will have to give up excesses in your diet in favor of ascetic and light foods.
• Alcohol and drug. These ways to temporarily escape reality can prevent you from seeing what’s most important.
• Medical. During the cleansing period, antidepressants, nootropics and a number of prescription drugs are contraindicated.
• Sexual. It’s not just about the lack of intimacy with a partner, but even about masturbation.
• Behavioral. Try to lead a more measured lifestyle, avoiding conflict situations and worries in principle.

Now we will focus on the fact that the path to understanding yourself and the world around you lies through diet.

2 Aspects of Diet and 3 Main Reasons to Follow It

• Restricting your diet can be viewed in 2 planes: physical and spiritual. So consider the diet simultaneously as:
• preparation for ayahuasca;
• a deeper practice directly related to the instructions of shamans and plant teachers.
• You can give a whole list of reasons for following a diet, but first of all it is worth highlighting 3:
• prove to yourself that you are ready to seriously work on yourself;
• eliminate the risk of harming your health;
• get the maximum effect from the ceremony and experience a truly valuable experience.

Ideally, the preparatory period of cleansing should be 2 weeks or even a month. Unfortunately, for various reasons, not everyone succeeds. But a strict diet for at least 3 days is mandatory.

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Physiological aspect

Each shaman has his own recipe and his own traditions, and therefore, requirements for the diet. But in general, there is nothing complicated. The more you cleanse yourself, the better. Which, however, is not a reason to go to extremes.

Let’s figure out why all this is necessary. Then, to avoid the so-called cheese (tyramine) syndrome, which can provoke a hypertensive crisis and, in rare cases, even death. That is why it is unacceptable to consume products containing tyramine and its precursor tyrazine. We will talk about them a little later.

Tyramine is responsible for a whole list of life processes, including regulating blood pressure. Ayahuasca contains MAOIs – monoamine oxidase inhibitors, which are responsible for the processing of tyramine. Accordingly, this substance is unnecessary for the body during the ceremony.

Of course, tyramine-containing products do not always lead to such dangerous consequences as a hypertensive crisis. But even less critical symptoms are unlikely to contribute to a successful ceremony. After all, we are talking about high blood pressure, headaches, rapid heartbeat, increased sweating, nausea and vomiting.

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Prohibited products

The restrictions can be divided into 3 groups depending on the severity of the ban. Some products are strictly contraindicated, and some are simply undesirable.

It is prohibited to consume:
✓ alcohol and drugs;
✓ any medications (preferably at least 2 weeks before);
✓ red meat (primarily pork and beef).

Try to avoid eating such foods:

• dairy products, especially aged cheeses;
• pickles and preserves;
• smoked and dried foods;
• seafood;
• salt, sugar;
• flavors and other artificial additives;
• fried foods, especially deep-fried;
• very overripe vegetables and fruits.

Products that should be consumed to a minimum include:

• raw onions and garlic;
• beans;
• chocolate;
• coffee;
• spices;
• 72 hours before the ceremony, it is advisable to stop eating fruits with a high concentration of digestive enzymes (pineapple, mango, papaya, lemon).

In addition, during the cleansing period it is recommended to avoid dietary supplements and other food additives.

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Your optimal diet

The menu should be extremely simple, not burdening the digestive system and the body as a whole. Give preference to fresh products. Or freshly prepared ones, if they require heat treatment, such as fish and meat.

Your menu may include:

• organic vegetables and fruits;
• fish;
• chicken;
• eggs;
• rice, lentils, amaranth, quinoa and other grains;
• seeds;
• olive, coconut and other natural oils;
• fresh herbs;
• honey;
• sea salt.

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IMPORTANT: Once again about medications

Take this preparation step very seriously. Yes, there is a chance that everything will be fine. But there is also a risk of ruining your ceremony and causing harm to your health. In the worst case, it can cause a fatal outcome.

First of all, the danger comes from drugs that can speed up the production of serotonin in the brain. We are talking about antidepressants of the MAOI and SSRI groups. If you do not take the necessary break between such a drug and ayahuasca, you will get a cocktail in your body that threatens a deadly serotonin syndrome.

Of course, there are situations when, for objective reasons, you cannot take a break from taking a drug in a timely manner. In this case, you should at least inform the organizers.

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Diet after the ceremony

Ayahuasca is a ritual after which you will not mentally return to your previous life, because you will become a new person. But nothing will prevent you from returning to your previous diet. However, a sudden return is unacceptable – you will have to change the menu gradually.

The fact is that the effect of ayahuasca is not limited to a few hours. The fact that it continues to work in your body is confirmed by both experienced shamans and authors of scientific studies, who gave this phenomenon the name “after-glowing effect”. To prolong it, you need a diet.

Usually, the requirements are the same as on the eve of the ceremony. And yet, you should consult with your mentor on this issue. After all, each plant-teacher provides additional restrictions. And the recipes, as you remember, are different for each shaman.

As a rule, the post-diet lasts from 2 to 4 weeks. During this time, you will be able to fully understand the experience gained during the ceremony, and even apply it in practice. If you suddenly return to your previous diet, you should not count on the maximum effectiveness of the ayahuasca ritual.