Description
You start the game with 1 red heart and 9 absorption hearts (yellow, non-regenerable) instead of 10 red hearts.
As you eat new unique foods, you will earn back the red hearts, replacing the yellow absorption hearts.
Each morning and after dying, your yellow absorption hearts will regenerate back to full.
Why?
It gives a reason to care about the sub-optimal foods in Minecraft, even if just for a single moment
Makes the early game more exciting - losing the absorption hearts leaves you extremely vulnerable, even as a veteran player.
Converges back to vanilla. Doesn't force long-term gameplay changes or micromanagement of diet. Just some taste testing and it goes back to the vanilla gameplay with 10 red hearts.
Foods needed
The foods needed are the exact same for the vanilla "A Balanced Diet" advancement.
Table: Exact foods needed per heart.
| Red hearts unlocked |
Unique foods eaten |
Foods for next heart |
|---|---|---|
| 1 heart | 0 foods | 4 |
| 2 hearts | 4 foods | 4 |
| 3 hearts | 8 foods | 4 |
| 4 hearts | 12 foods | 4 |
| 5 hearts | 16 foods | 4 |
| 6 hearts | 20 foods | 4 |
| 7 hearts | 24 foods | 4 |
| 8 hearts | 28 foods | 6 |
| 9 hearts | 34 foods | 6 |
| 10 hearts | 40 foods | Complete |
- Edition: Minecraft Java
- File type: .jar
- Minecraft versions listed: 26.1, 26.1.1, 26.1.2
- How to install: Install the matching mod loader (Forge, Fabric or NeoForge) for your Minecraft version. → Download the .jar. → Put it in the .minecraft/mods folder and launch that loader profile.
- Where to get it: Opens on Modrinth — not every file is mirrored on our own servers.
Install steps are the general flow for this file type — see the MC Java Mods guides for the full walkthrough.
- Ships as balanced_diet_viv-fabric-2.0.0+26.1.jar — drop this file into the mods folder
- Download size: 42 KB
- Download link checked 20 Aug 2026 — working
These come from our own check of the pack file, not from the source page.