Winona Ryder: I Don't Eat on Camera Anymore

Was it something she ate? Pretty much!

Winona Ryder is making a grand return to the spotlight, and she’s sharing some tricks of the trade she’s learned along the way.

For one: Just say no to nibbling scenes. While filming the lesser-known 1990 teen comedy Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, Ryder, then 19, says she learned this the hard way.

“There’s a scene in my bedroom where I start eating Almond Roca,” Ryder, 41, tells PEOPLE while promoting her new film The Iceman in New York City. “I was so young. It was before I knew the tricks of moviemaking, and I didn’t know you shoot a lot of different angles.”

One tasty toffee led to another. “I gobbled them and didn’t realize I had to keep doing it,” says Ryder, “So I had to eat 64 Almond Roca that day. I got so sick.”

Dozens of popular films and food scenes later, Ryder says it’s a feeling she’s never forgotten.

“In the beginning you’re like, ‘Ooh, that looks good.’ But hours later, no. Now when I do a film, you never see me eating. I’ll be doing this,” says the actress, motioning towards her mouth, “but rarely do I ever put it in.”

Which may just be the trick when you see Ryder eating in 1995’s Reality Bites.