"Hey why cant i eat till i get so full no one can beat me?"

this makes me laugh for sooo many reasons :-) one of the more polite... "Sumo Vikings!!" good luck with the corpse run.

But humour aside.. you eat two types of food to balance your abilities. and wear armour to reflect damage. eating while "in combat" has its risks.. i think Valheim does this quite well "challenging indeed"
Potions are alchemy, not sure OP's boss level .. But to quote
“Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack.”

― Sun Tzu