How Hunger and Saturation Work

Quick answer

• You heal naturally when your food bar is at 9 drumsticks or more.
• Saturation is a hidden bar that drains first, before your food bar.
• Golden carrot items give the most saturation of any normal food.

Your hunger bar decides whether you heal, sprint or slowly starve. Knowing how it works keeps you alive in fights.

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The two bars

• Hunger: the 10 drumsticks you can see, worth 20 points.
• Saturation: hidden. It drains first, so good food keeps your drumsticks full for longer.

When you heal and sprint

With full hunger and saturation left, you heal very quickly on Java. That's why eating before a fight helps.

Best foods

Food	Hunger	Saturation
Golden carrot	6	14.4
Steak	8	12.8
Cooked porkchop	8	12.8
Rabbit stew	10	12

Starving

With an empty bar you lose health. On Easy it stops at 5 hearts, on Normal at half a heart, and on Hard it can kill you.

Sprinting and jumping drain hunger fastest. Attacking, mining and swimming drain it too.

Cheat sheet

• 9+ drumsticks to heal
• 3 or fewer drumsticks: no sprinting
• Best food: golden carrots
• Hard difficulty starvation can kill