Ayahuasca is a powerful plant medicine, and preparing for a ceremony is just as important as the experience itself. One of the most common questions people ask is: Why no salt? At Pachamama Sanctuary, we guide participants through the right way to prepare for an Ayahuasca journey, including dietary restrictions. The Ayahuasca diet is designed to help cleanse the body and mind, ensuring that participants receive the full benefits of the medicine.
The way you eat before an Ayahuasca ceremony plays a big role in how deeply you connect with the medicine. The diet, or “dieta,” isn’t just about avoiding certain foods—it’s about purifying your system so you can fully embrace healing. This is why ayahuasca diet preparation is essential. By following these guidelines, you create the best conditions for a transformative experience.
Salt is something we use in almost every meal, so it may seem strange to cut it out before an Ayahuasca ceremony. However, salt can interfere with how Ayahuasca works in the body. It affects water retention, disrupts the balance of neurotransmitters, and can make it harder for the medicine to be absorbed. Ayahuasca is all about cleansing, and salt can slow down this process.
Beyond the physical effects, salt is often linked to cravings and attachments. The Ayahuasca journey encourages participants to let go of things that no longer serve them. By removing salt from your diet, you start practising detachment even before the ceremony.
Ayahuasca diet preparation includes avoiding many foods that can interfere with the medicine’s effects. Here are some key foods and substances to cut out:
By following these guidelines, you allow your body to be in the best possible state for the medicine to work. This is why Pachamama Sanctuary is considered the best Ayahuasca retreat in the USA. We take diet preparation seriously to ensure every participant has a deep and healing experience.
The diet, or dieta, is one of the most important practices in both preparing to take ayahuasca, as well as for maximizing the benefits of integration following your journey. The preparatory diet should not be taken lightly. Indeed, you can seriously endanger yourself by failing to honor the dietary precautions, and otherwise guarantee a much more difficult and painful process as Ayahuasca cleans out the toxins and heavier energies accumulated from a poor diet. The following dietary guidelines ensure that you will be as receptive as possible to the miraculous gifts that Ayahuasca can give. IMPORTANT: For your safety, you must tell us if you are currently taking any medications or supplements. Some medications have dangerous contraindications with Ayahuasca. Please review our Medical Guidelines here.
By following these preparatory guidelines for diet, you set yourself up to maximize the benefits from encountering this sacrament. Entering into a relationship with Ayahuasca is to work with a master teacher. Therefore, the student should be as prepared as possible both as a sign of respect for the teacher as well as to ensure the highest learning. The more commitment you show to Ayahuasca, the more you prove yourself as a worthy student who may be trusted with deeper communion and higher knowledge.
