Hi Portia:
Unfortunately sushi and Tai are the worst things us, IC's could ever eat. 3 years ago I was at stage  "6", happily going through my pregnancy after 2 years in treatment, gave birth to a healthy baby girl (just like Matia describes in her last post, it wasn't my story, but mine was VERY similar). And after my pregnancy, I stopped being very careful with food choices. I haven't touched alcohol or sugar, God, NO, but I used to loooove sushi and tai food before all this, and figured I am totally ok to eat it now. It did't take long, may be a few months of careless eating out before my symptoms (long forgotten) started to come back. To make a long story short I am still struggling to get where I was 3 years ago. Matia explained that sushi is

the worst for us, since raw fish has incredible amounts of different parasites (yes, even the one from the best restaurants), that cause major imbalances, are very hard to get rid off, and in people with "weak", even healed gut, will rack a havoc. It took me year to have my life back again, and I am still only on List 3-4. And I wasn't a very difficult case in the beginning, progressed super fast the first time around in treatment.
There are many, many, many other food that you will enjoy, but please, DON'T EVER EAT SUSHI! As for Tai, it may be ok for you, but no more than once a month, since soy sauce is another super major trigger for us. Indian food is ok as a matter of fact (except for stuff with coconut milk), so curry is totally fine when you are ready, so is Ethiopian, Italian and many other cuisines. You will learn more as you advance in this treatment.
Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but felt compelled to write and at least warn you.
All the best, Natasha.

Ok, that has frightened me, big time. I would rather hear your story than you not saying it (and I really hope you are starting to get back to normal again very soon)  just this has really really scared me.
I am due to go over in May to start treatment and I am still trying to understand everything. Will we always have be careful of everything we ever liked to do and eat before IC? Are our systems permanently compromised, even after recovery?
 
Where I am coming from, Im trying to tackle an eating disorder before I go over in May and the worst, worst thing for treating that, is restricting anything from the diet as it create a kind of obsession about it and thus lapsing (if that makes sense). I can restrict for however long I need to do to recover (and Im already doing it, with a lot of courage and strength) but I am thinking now, I must be in serious serious trouble,  with food issues and IC, that even if I conquer IC, it will come back to haunt me because to deal with the food issues in real life, I have to be able to feel I can eat what I want (within reason).

Hi Porkchop,
I used to worry a lot about this when I was first starting treatment. I have been on list 5-6 for about 3 years now and while I am still very careful about what I eat 90% of the time, Matia has OK'd me to occasionally have things like high quality Chinese food and Sushi (as long as it doesn't have raw fish). She has told me to never, never eat raw fish. Another thing to know about sushi is that the rice is mixed with vinegar and sugar. I can eat California rolls and rolls with cooked shrimp, there are also rolls with just vegetables. I only eat sushi every couple of months and am fine with it. I have noticed that Chinese food does bother me a bit, so I've taken a break from eating that. I think Thai food often has sugar in the curry sauce, so it is probably best to ask if it's in there. At this point I am OK to eat a sauce if it has a little bit of sugar in it. I think that when you get to the end stages of treatment and are given more freedom in what you can eat, you just have to be careful not to go crazy eating a lot of things that are bad. That will mess you up. But I can go to almost any restaurant and order off the menu and be fine. Matia will tell you a few things you should avoid forever and it's pretty easy to do. 

I just had an appointment with Matia yesterday and asked her about the sushi situation (and food "after" treatment), because these posts really got me thinking about that miraculous time. I am 8 months in. Its funny, in the beginning and before treatment, I used to fantasize about that time when I could go back to a "normal" diet, but the last few months, I don't tend to think about it (that's not to say, I don't smell the chocolate my boyfriend is about to eat or stare at desserts at the farmers market- like a crazy person), the diet has become my normal and it doesn't really seem hard anymore.
But sushi....every time I read something about sushi on here (and specifically never being able to have it again), I die a little inside, its was/is my absolute favorite. I lived on sushi for the 10 years prior to IC happening (might have been one of my problems!) and I can't imagine a life completely without it...forever.
Anyway, Matia told me that she has gone back and forth on the sushi question, but that as of late, AFTER treatment, she generally thinks its OK in moderation- the raw fish kind anyway. She said that EVERYONE is different, that for instance, she has about 1/2 of her patients go back to drinking after treatment and while SHE DOES NOT RECOMMEND THIS AT ALL, half of those people go on to being fine (that is drinking in moderation-every once in a while, not a few times a week), the issue is she is not sure who will be fine and who won't. The very essence of this treatment is that its individualistic, but the beauty is, she says, after treatment, you will know fairly quickly if something isn't agreeing with you. Generally, if you stick to the parameters (and don't go back to our old way of living), you won't be going along for a while and then BAM, get extremely sick again.
We also talked about desserts/sweets- another weakness of mind (hence, sniffing all my boyfriend's desserts, before longingly watch him eat them). Matia has a sweet almost everyday, they are fruit sweetened or agave, but its still a sweet and she says- taste amazing! I so look forward to the day when I can bake a "good for you" dessert and feel good eating it, not guilty, because I am putting crap in my body. 
What I have come to realize is when you do a diet/treatment like this, we are so restrictive that when we think about the future and being restrictive forever seems so insurmountable because the thing keeping us going is 1) Feeling "normal" again and getting our life back 2) Being able to enjoy a "normal" diet again. BUT THINK about being able to eat "almost normal"/diet after treatment, how luxurious that would be. For instance, I can't have fruit yet and I would KILL for a strawberry, it seems strange, but I really think I would prefer a bowl of fruit over a cupcake. When we have gone through what we are going through and come out on the other side, I don't think limiting ourselves to sushi every once in a while or not having coconut or mushrooms is really going to be all that hard.
Which brings me to my last thought in this rambling post, I woke up yesterday, thinking about all of you (and me) and smiling, realizing what STRENGTH each and everyone of us has to be DOING THIS day in and day out, with all the responsibilities that life throws at us. We can't take a time out (and if you are like me, so many people don't know how I am feeling inside). We carry on, put one foot in front of the other and it is incredible. Every once and a while, my boyfriend, my mom and/or close friends, look at me and say, I can't believe the strength you have to do this, to not drink, smoke, cook all the time, eat such limited things, feel like shit quite frankly and MARCH ON. But we do and it is miraculous. Each and everyone of us. Going through something like this truly makes me realize what inner strength is and I know this experience will give me the tools to tackle ANYTHING that comes my way.
So peace and love be with all of you. Know that nothing is forever, that we have each other and one day this will all be a distant memory.