You should eat as you feel to, as you recover from strep, or other illness.
And if you have a little more patience before doing ab's, I use colloidal silver, oregano oil, vitamin c, beta glucan and goldenseal to beat strep, without the negative effects of ab's.
And don’t worry you won't be in "starvation mode." Nor do you need worry about calories but do rest and get better! And simply rejoin as you can.