Eating food should give you increased stamina regen/cap

[QP Evergrande]

is byond really that bad

All the little things add up. It's not just the decay calculation, it's the effect calculation as well, particularly if it's not a linear correlation. Then applying the effect. Multiply that by seventy players or more, plus however many NPCs are chemically active. That's why for nutrition and calorie effects I wanted a baseline people couldn't fall below, instead of starting at an elevated level at the start of the round like Frank described. Doing it my way, all this code would be inactive in those NPCs, and anyone who doesn't eat anything. I doubt it would seriously strain things either way, not like atmospheric behavior does, but every added bit brings the onset of lag a little closer. The question is, does added complexity add to the fun, or is it too much to keep track of for anyone to reasonably to reasonably master the system.

My proposed taste system is already pushing it, but with foods made to taste similar to their real world counterparts, it shouldn't be too hard for a chef to tailor a meal to a particular customer's preferences. And with only a single variable for nutrition instead of a dozen, people wouldn't be forced to all use the same taste preference settings to get the full benefits of healthy eating.