I mostly give up by the time I get my strength and intellect up to max-ish (I do throw in a couple of things from other skill trees in there for good measure) because at that point I can be confident enough to come into any POI and not hear my teeth chattering and feel my butt clenching.
Things that keep me on my toesies are number of zombies. not their sponginess, so I try to facilitate my own danger and add to the game longevity by adding more spawns and bigger wandering hordes. It works to a degree, especially in the beginning stages of the playthrough.
I do feel that developers should give some love to the survival aspect of the game. For me, at least, current food system is just bad because it feels so "arcady" or dumbed down... especially with those candies that are just ridiculous (I do know that some people may love them and I'm not, by any means, asking for them to get taken out. Just saying that I do not use them.) What I'm trying to say is that I'm looking for some immersion and realism in the survival aspect of a survival game and this just doesn't have that feel.
Just spitballing here, but maybe Fun Pimps could borrow some survival aspects of Zomboid and cram it into 7D2D