Hi all,

I was in Peru for two weeks and returned home last week. While I was there I followed the diet expected of me. The purging experience of Ayahuasca was intense. I was thankful that the diet was reducing the pain of purging.

Since arriving home I had a tortilla chip and was shocked at how salty it was. It was covered in salt! In this fashion I've become aware of how much salt and sugar and spice there is in my diet. It's weird to say this, when I was younger I hated spice. But in the last two years ago I have developed a love for it. Cayenne pepper, cumin, chilli pepper, black pepper, cajun blend, thyme, rosemary, parsley etc.

I had a friend make a comment the other day that she learned that eating spicy food keeps people up at night.

So I guess I'm thinking maybe I should tone down my use of spices. I'm wondering if a bland diet that has little fruit would be good for me. Not neccesarily long term, but fasts possibly.

It was also startling to hear during my stay in Henaro my interpreter said she had read an article saying that juice clense was the most messed up cleanse out there. It surprised me to hear that as this seems to be so popular on this forum. Have been thinking about trying it myself but I find myself grabbing other food pretty much immediately after juicing most of the time.

When I traveled back to Iquitos to wait for my flight I had a couple days to chill and recuperate. There was this british place that provide all kinds of tours but it was also a great place to eat. It was called Dawn on the Amazon Cafe. They had a menu for Ayahuasca which was very convenient. The third paragraph lists the common denominator of what to avoid.

Would love some feedback. What do you think about spices? Unnatural sugar and salt seem more obvious to me.

I use lots of herbs myself. Mother Nature provides amazing nutrients and health giving compounds in her beautiful plants, I use them for food as well as medicine. Salt, or at least sodium, is essential in the body but we were never meant to consume it the way we do. There is no "salt plant" that grows in the earth, the process by which we collect salt crystals is not something that would naturally make it so abundant. I take care not to consume too much of that.

I took a look at that diet, it didn't seem very healthy to me. Maybe compared to SAD but bread, fried foods etc don't meet my criteria for cleansing.

Hi, Adam! This experience sounds interesting. The only Ayahuasca ceremony I've ever read a description of was Shazzy's and it was a tad too hyperbolic. It would be fascinating to hear someone else's account, but I hear it is a very private experience for some people, so shan't press

As for the menu: Lots of overcooked egg and poultry--if your are fasting, cooked poultry is not "healthy." It is dead animal muscle that your body must work hard to break down into amino acids you need to recuperate. The smoothies look good, though--nutritious and hydrating. The menu seems to get less rigorous as one scrolls down, and from this I am guessing that they know most people going to this place are, I beg your pardon, not serious about taking their mystical experience through life with them. They aren't going to really want to live on hydrating nutritious smoothies when they can have "regular" food. The menu indicates to me that the establishment seems to know what will sell best. However, they do not know how to spell "ciabatta," which makes me sad.

Most importantly--what is that adorabable wee creature in the photo in the right margin?

Herbs and spices are amazing and tend to get an unjustified bad reputation based on poor logic i often find.

Some will focus on the hot spices which can be irritating, but there are a wealth of non-irritating spices to choose from. Infact the hot spices such as cayenne and chili aren't even all that great and i feel cayenne in particular is very over-rated.

Turmeric, black pepper, clove, cinnamon, thyme, parsley etc are all well documented foods that are good for health.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

sounds like a violent way to detox .. pain of purging? followed by a diet including fried eggs cooked in olive oil ?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Im still of the opinion that these strong pyschedelics such as Ayahuasca can go either way. Some find them of immense benefit especially to mental well being whilst it can go the other way in many cases and you can have the worst trip of your life.

There is no way to find out if it is going to help until its too late, you either have a great experience and come away with profound benefits or you are left shattered in my opinion of course. I will bear in mind that i have never done this under the experience of a shaman, but i do have considerable past experience with various pyschedelic drugs and not all pleasant experiences to say the least lol.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2012 05:05PM by powerlifer.

i just fail to see the point of so violently purging .. then following it with fried eggs and cheese, fish, chicken soup etc etc ..yes theres alot of fruits and greens offered on that menu ..but really if you just spentall that time ,money and pain to purge yourself ..why would you -retox with olive oil fried eggs, meat and dairy?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I have found my own experiences with Ayahuasca to be deeply profound; changing the entire way I view the world. Empowering, challenging, moving, sometimes a little disturbing, but always magical.

However I think your experiences are very much affected by who you choose to conduct the ceremonies. I was lucky enough to find these lovely people -

[www.heartoftheinitiate.com]

They are very raw-friendly (in fact they also run raw retreats) the food was gorgeous, and their energy is truly beautiful. The space felt very safe, comfortable and nurturing. I feel truly blessed to have been able to connect with them.


As for spices, salt etc, yes I find these days that salty foods make me extremely dehydrated afterwards. I like using fresh herbs, but anything too flavourful such as dried spices etc just make me want to eat more and more food, rather than eating for pure hunger. So yes it would make sense I think to eat quite a bland diet, then you'd be sure you were really eating for the right reasons. (That's not to say I don't enjoy the odd spicy meal now and then!)

Hey all,

Thanks for the great responses! Sorry it took me so long to check back.

I linked the Dawn on the Amazon menu more as a description of what is generally not accepted in the diet revolving around Ayahuasca. I'm under no illusions, the menu does aim to please, The addition of bread alone is a break from the traditional diet.

The place I went to was Infinite Light. Going there was a no brainer for me because of the sign language support. Personally I didn't have the grand visions that other people did. My experienced varied a great deal, some nights I would feel serene, other nights I would feel so ill I would have to self induce vomiting.

The first night of ceremony happened during Carnival. Trippy. We could hear all the villagers blasting music drinking and doing haunts, making monstrous noises and so on. It was funny, I remember telling myself "hey dark spirits, this is a good time to go, all your friends are waiting for you outside." It got old after the first hour. By the third hour it was adding to the feelings of nausea. I had a brief one minute hallucination of an old shaman, in the form of a tree. The tree was asleep at first, leaning over kinda like a wilted flower. As I felt the effect of Ayahuasca ascend the tree and it's limbs awoke and straightened stretching upwards. It was this trip that I felt like I could really understand Shamanism and Seers and the likes. In a way, to near the threshold of death, Muertes, is to awake in a different universe, to awake as the tree and to see clearly and unhindered. This clarity of vision is not consistent, it's subject to the law of diminishing returns, but it is there. It's a different way of seeing, not necessarily the best or clearest but different. It helped me see what I was stuck on for which I am very grateful. The amazing thing was the next day when we went out on a boat ride to collect ingredients I saw the same exact tree as from my vision, dead and lifeless of course, since I was fully in this world of the living.

A few nights later I had another minute long hallucination. I could see myself lying down on the dirt curled up on my side. This anaconda finds me laying there, it's not sure what to make of me at first, but it likes my posture. The anaconda slinks up to my chest and collects itself against me. It's about as close as it gets to spooning with an anaconda lol. I was really surprised by that one, I had never thought of predatory snakes as potential friends. Again during the outing on the boat, I find out that one of the ingredients in the Ayahuasca brew is known as "the spirit of the anaconda". Anacondas are a huge part of Peruvian culture and art. They are regarded as fondly as grandfathers.

Another night I saw swirl of colors like what you see in oil. Then a face formed out of this liquid surface. I felt that it was the face of the Ayahuasca, it was just showing me it's face so that I could trust it.

The rest of my visions were more like kalediscopic visions lasting less than a minute that would not really be coherent if I tried to explain them.

Most of the time I was feeling ill and recovering from Ayahuasca. I ate very little. The first few days I tried the eggs prepared in different ways, but after the third day I did without them. Basically in the mornings there was eggs and a tray of assorted steamed vegetables. tomatoes, broccoli, yucca, beet, and plaintain. For lunch it would be either fish or chicken on rice and vegetables. Dinner was pretty much the same as lunch. Usually I eat everything on my plate, but I gave up on that during this experience. I don't remember the last time where I didn't really care that much about food. I slept a great deal, I generally just wanted to feel better. I'd hang out sometimes in the lodge in a hammock or enjoy the sun in one of the many rocking chairs made out of re-bar.

Every morning at 6 am after a night of ceremony we would go to the river and swim. It sucked getting up and feeling so ill, but it was always amazing. To walk through the dirt and mud barefoot. Splashing into the water was the most refreshing thing ever. It really made a difference in how I felt, getting all that toxin laden sweat off my skin.

I also really loved the icaros our shaman would sing during ceremony. The shaman would ease into it with whistling, then switch to quiet singing, almost humming. After that the rattle would kick in, this was always the trippiest part for me. The song would ease into full song after this, but it was always light somehow.

There were 4 others there with me, so it was a small group. There were two leads, so it felt more like 6. I can't imagine one person not being there as part of that experience. It was like the breakfast club or something. Everybody there was respectful and had good intentions. It was neat to experience the openness and the sharing of personal issues.

My stay in Iquitos was a whole nother experience in and of itself but I'm not going to go into that.

Overall I'm glad I went. Would I do it again? I don't know. I feel like the combination of being ill and not being able to sleep for hours during ceremony is like meditation on steroids. Falling asleep is a huge issue with meditating, and it's hard to focus on the things that are important to us directly too. Being ill forces things of importance to be front and center, since you can't sleep and generally you're just lying there or sitting there, you can't avoid it. For now I think my liver has suffered too much this past year or two. Bad bad bad acne drugs (Isotretinoin, generic equivalent to Acutane). I made the mistake of having acupuncture treatments during that same time putting an even higher load on my liver.

As far as the spices and my diet goes, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. What I do know is I need to reduce my consumption of salt. I'm thinking I'll try and phase out my use of the hot spices especially in the evenings. I'd like to keep exploring the herbs and spices, although I do think it'd be good to try a bland vegetable diet for up to a month. I fear my will power is not strong enough to stick to it but we'll see.

All of you shared wonderful feedback. I better get out the house while the sun is still out.

Salud everybody,

~Adam

Fascinating, Adam! Hope you keep moving in the right direction for you Thanks for posting!

I don't consider fresh herbs to be spices. Plus they have nutrients.

Spices also have nutrients UL, i was surprised at the nutrient content of many common spices.

[www.vegankingdom.co.uk]

And mad ORAC content, too!

be careful everybody! powdered turmeric is steamed in the beginning before being dried.....always use fresh turmeric when possible for true nutrient and enzyme array!

Very true, fresh spices are always the best. Non-organic dried spices are often irradiated, too. >.<

Steaming doesn't change the benefits of turmeric as far as I can tell (black pepper either, that is also not raw). Best I've got access to there is organic, it's going to have to be good enough for me .

I remember reading an interesting article back in December 2004 in the December 2004 issue of Spirituality & Health where it had “Mystical Healing In The Amazon” on the front cover. The article begins on page 56 and is called The Vine of the Soul. It's about this French doctor Jacques Mabit at the Takiwasi Centre in Tarapoto, Peru.

Disillusioned with modern medicine, Mabit turned to Amazonian shamanism in order to bring a spiritual dimension to fight cocaine addiction. This makes a lot of sense to me since addiction is a spiritual illness - a search outside ourselves for something that is actually deep within us.

Mabit was especially intrigued by the ritual use by South American shamans of the sacred entheogenic brew Ayahuasca, which creates altered states of consciousness and visionary experiences, and is non-addictive. The visions allow users to engage with the underlying causes of their drug addiction on a personal, spiritual level. Psychologists are on hand to observe and interpret these visions, which is similar to dream interpretation.

This consciousness expanding plant shuts down the left brain and amplifies the right brain - dismantles the (Freudian) ego structure and connects them to the divine. Ayahuasca also helps the user become aware of their hurt and that they are the creator of that hurt, which makes them realize that they are responsible for all of their mistakes.

According to Mabit, over a third of the patients that begin treatment get completely cured. And among those who complete the treatment, the success rate is as high as 70%.

For Jacques Mabit, the lack of meaning in life is what generally leads to drug-addiction, "It shows the basic dysfunctionality of Western culture: the absence of a spiritual dimension. This is a culture that has destroyed the meaning of the sacred, and there is a tendency to control all aspects of society, without allowing room for freedom and creativity."

Anyway, as I was looking through my file on Ayahuasca, I found this old post from this BB by Brian…

[www.living-foods.com]
who knows what is real?
Brian (---.dialsprint.net)
Date: 05-28-01 00:53

Being detached from reality? Only someone who is "detached from reality" would assume that they knew what was real. Everything you experience is filtered down by your senses and your brain chemicals and then by your cultural and personal biases. Entheogens throw the doors wide open and give you a much bigger picture on what is real.
It is a common experience on ayahuasca (a plant concoction of Amazonian shamanism using dmt plants along with admixtures that work as mao inhibitors) to see sound in the air as a purplish blue fluid that can be manipulated by the voice. This is visible to everyone sharing the potion, a form of visible telepathy. The shaman have songs that are not based on music but on how it manipulates this stuff for all to see. There is actually evidence to support that under this influence you are able to see on the ultraviolet light plane. Who is to judge whether this is real or not?
[www.living-foods.com]

Peace and Love………John

The War on Consciousness: Graham Hancock at TEDxWhitechapel
[www.youtube.com]#!
18:45 Minute Video

[www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com]
The Implications for the Future of a Society
that Wages Total War on
True Cognitive Liberty

TEDxTalks
February 13, 2013

Graham Hancock tells the story of his 24-year relationship with cannabis brought to an abrupt halt in 2011 after an encounter with ayahuasca, the sacred visionary brew of the Amazon. Along the way he explores the mystery of death, the problem of consciousness, and the implications for the human future of a society that wages total war on true cognitive liberty.

Graham Hancock is the author of 'The Sign and the Seal', 'Fingerprints of the Gods', 'Keeper of Genesis', 'Heaven's Mirror', 'Supernatural' and other bestselling investigations of historical mysteries.

His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages and have sold over five million copies worldwide. His public lectures and broadcasts, including two major TV series, 'Quest for the Lost Civilisation', and 'Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age', have further established his reputation as an unconventional thinker who raises controversial questions about humanity's past.

Hancock's first venture into fiction, 'Entangled', was published in 2010 and his second novel, 'War God', on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico, will be published on 30 May 2013.

Hancock maintains an active Facebook presence: [www.facebook.com]. His website is: [www.grahamhancock.com].

yeah, reality has nothing to do with the verbal world that creates the left brain. Doing activities that enhance the right brain helps. I think many people live as prisioners of the left brain. Society rewards and demands left brain activities and so other people. The left brain life is so assumed that it is hard come out except maybe with herbs (I haven't tried them myself). Basically, left brain equals hell and right brain equal paradise.

blad diet works for me.

The ayahuasca diet is not mean to be a cleanse, or a diet to adhere to for health reasons. It is designed to prepare the body for the very specific experience of taking ayahuasca.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2013 06:43AM by TimSimms.

what on earth was the ayahuasca diet , to begin with

and why on earth should someone cleanse themselves to take a poison?

i don't doubt that this plant has powerful abilities to shift thinking paradigms

but wouldn't it be more efficacious, consistent and safe to simply use a little simple powerful tool called


I
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??