Thank you!! The strength bar basically acts as a buffer to the health bar. I wanted a mechanic to force players to seek out food quickly, and decrementing the health bar directly was seen as too stressful (ie a "tightening noose around the neck"). I think I'm going to rethink the whole food system based off of other comments.
I'm struggling with the interaction system. Yes having speed boosts and the spring activate automatically would be more intuitive, but then the player can't make any choices in the game. I think I might remove all interactions for food/attacks/foraging and just focus on that "nice rhythm" of interacting with speed boosts and springs with the movement.
Yes I will decrease the time for falling through platforms, thanks for that feedback I agree completely.