So the ingredients from Maya have finally arrived, and the first pharma ceremony shall be performed soon!

A question before it all begins though...

How important is this MAOI diet to adhere too before journeying, and for how long?


Not going to lie, I like me some meat / milk

How important is the diet, and how strictly do you have to follow it for just taking say a g of 50x caapi extract and 30 mg DMT. Also how dangerous is it to not follow the diet, what could happen?

Any specific information / experiences are greatly appreciated.

Since Harmalas are RIMA, not true MAOI
The diet that was once speculated about caapi is completely unnecessary.


You must stay away from harmalas and certain pharmaceuticals, though!

In my experience although nothing really bad is going to happen to you if you consume ayahuasca during a non regulated diet, I find the experience is much more comfortable and clear if a good choice of diet is maintained.

The same goes for any substance... or indeed any day of the week. Obviously if you eat more sensibly you will feel better about yourself, but I find this to be much more amplified when using caapi. With the right diet 2-3 days before the session I find it to be much more worth while in both ritual practice and the way the body handles it physically.

Fresh fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds will never stear you wrong.

If you follow any diet, follow the diets used by the shamans. They are not MAOI diets, but rather diets that will make the experience better. Harmala alkaloids seem to interact pretty badly with certain types of drugs, not because of their RIMA action so much, but just because they interact badly. Alcohol, for example, is usually forbidden on a shaman's ayahuasca diet. I think fatty pork is also forbidden. Things like cheese, and other normal MAOI forbidden foods are not forbidden by the diets shamans use.

I forget all the different things they say you shouldn't eat before taking ayahuasca, but pretty much none of them are on the MAOI list of forbidden items. Harmala alkaloids are RIMAs and RIMAs don't normally require a diet if you are a normal healthy person. But they will interact with some drugs negatively, so beware of that.

I agree with the above posts.

If you eat healthy your journey will benifit from it. Sort of like a physical preperation for what's to come.

Just stay away from medication and drugs.

Enjoy your travels.

I was under the impression that with MAOIs it is of utmost importance to strictly adhere to a tyramine free diet. If that's not the case, or if there is a way to take pharma without having to diet, I would be very interested. I generally try to eat healthily, but I have a fairly severe gluten intolerance, and don't eat fish, so cutting more food out is a bit of a mission for me.

Caapi is not a full blown MAOI. It's only a weak RIMA. RIMAs don't require MAOI diets unless you are extremely sensitive to tyramine. RIMAs allow tyramine metabolism to function enough to allow you to eat normal amounts of tyramine, while full blown MAOIs don't, and so they are VERY DANGEROUS unless you stick to the MAOI diet.

Well happy days! That means I can have a pharma experience without having to stick to a diet for 10 days!

You should avoid other drugs though. The harmala alkaloids react in unusual ways with some drugs. Alcohol is often a bad mix, causing a headache. This has nothing to do with tyramine or MAOI interaction. Alcohol just doesn’t mix well with harmala alkaloids.

The spiritual diets followed by shamans are not MAOI diets. They nearly always forbid the taking of drugs and alcohol prior to using ayahuasca, but don’t forbid things like cheese and other foods high in tyramine.

SWIM eats everything under the sun from all sorts of different cultures and often eats lots of cheese, and he's never had any reaction of any kind with ayahuasca. But he has had reactions when other drugs were mixed with it. So that's the real danger. Avoid using other drugs.

Excellent! That's not a problem for me at all! I don't mind a few drinks of an evening but I'm sure I can handle going without for a bit

How long should I avoid other drugs? I assume this includes paracetamol, ibuprofen etc and proscription drugs, too?

Some people recommend a few days. The time should be long enough for most of the drug’s effects to be gone. Ibuprofen SWIM has taken on the same day without an issue. Each drug is different though. I’d say if you can’t feel the drug anymore, you’re probably fine to use ayahuasca.

Drug interactions are complex though, and this is true for many drugs other than ayahuasca, and some interactions do things you don’t expect.

For example, SWIM uses 4 Datura inoxia seeds as a sleep aid on occasion. Scopolamine was once sold as an OTC sleep aid and 4 Datura inoxia seeds contain roughly the same dose of scopolamine as the sleep aid pill did. This is a great sleep aid. Sometimes SWIM might use Kava as a sleep aid. But mix the two, and it just doesn’t feel right. You can tell by how your body feels that it’s a bad mix and probably dangerous if the dose is a little high. However, mix 4 Datura inoxia seeds with ayahuasca, or mix kava with ayahuasca, and the result is rather pleasant. Certain drugs just don’t go well together.

In general, drugs that are potentiaters are drugs that tend to have unexpected interactions with other drugs. Datura is a potentiater, Kava is a potentiater, Caapi is a potentiater, etc. These are the ones to be most careful with. Kava has MAOI effects that differ from Caapi, so mixing Kava with Caapi is a little risky. Datura doesn’t have MAOI effects, but nonetheless it’s a potentiater of many other drugs. Datura makes painkillers like ibuprofen work better, and so does kava, but never take Datura + ibuprofen + Kava.

Anyway, drug interactions are all over the place. As long as you stick to drugs like coffee, tobacco, etc., which have been used in ayahuasca, you’ll be fine. These have been mixed with ayahuasca for centuries.

you mean UNpleasant I guess?



coffee has not been used with ayahuasca for centuries.. maybe caffeine-containing plants, you mean? and in any case I wonder in what dosages that is....


but yeah I agree with the general recommendation of avoiding pharmaceutical drugs in general when taking ayahuasca.

No, it's pleasant. I'm just pointing out that while they do mix well with ayahuasca on their own, they don't mix well either each other. The Kava+ayahuasca mix is pleasant but probably risky. The Datura+ayahausca mix is pleasant and almost identical to a traditional brugmansia+ayahuasca mix, and not considered risky as long as the Datura dose is tiny (4 Datura inoxia seeds). But you mix 4 Datura inoxia seeds with 1 teaspoon of kava, and you can feel it’s not good for you. You’re body doesn’t feel right.



Yes, I meant caffeine containing plants, not coffee specifically.

ah cool, thanks for the clarification