Like I just said, I have done many villages, some on normal, most on hard, and all of my original villagers have not only survived, but thrived into old age, all six or five of them, without being taught or forced to eat.

I always help my villagers get back to full health long before they get weakened, and I don't force them to research or build if they get injured. Except for my very first game, all my original villagers survive well past the moving of the boulder. My most successful so far - the oldest original villager was 59 when the boulder was moved.