It's more realistic this way, you're supposed to learn how to make a makeshift kitchen (dark cauldron) in the wild and cook them to preserve them, all raw foods and soups will vanish/be discarded since it easily spoils. As in Hard mode, you will never need this skill anyways. Hell mode and above enforce the rule that you must value your Survival points.
About health, to start off, you have only 100 Stamina, but a whooping 200 HP. Your HP pool is good, learn to manage it and avoid fighting enemies equipped with spears and swords (bandits for example) unless you come equipped with at least a basic Shield, this mode force you to use a previously obsolete/useless item called Red Potion, this is important for your survival. Also, a full sleep heals you 40 HP, It's a good deal considering over 50% of enemies prefer to deal stamina damage.
Hell mode is not for the faint of heart, Traps will fuck you up even more so venturing into a dark cave is a big NO NO unless you scout/stalk the cave like 5 times a day, retreat and come back with a full arsenal of equipment and potion.
Sorry for the long post, but yeah, be patient and very cautious.
