The dieta is a traditional Amazonian healing and initiation system, distinct from the pre-ceremony dietary restrictions. Used by plant healers and initiates in Peru and across the Amazon basin, it involves extended isolation, strict food restriction, sexual abstinence, and a dedicated relationship with a plant teacher over weeks or months. The cure resides in the whole complex of conditions, not in any single compound (Luna, 1986; O’Shaughnessy and Berlowitz, 2019; Berlowitz et al., 2018).
