I ate an entire bag of peanut butter pretzels during a two-hour Zoom meeting last year. Did not realize it until I reached into the bag and my fingers hit the bottom. I was not hungry. I was not even paying attention. I just… ate them. All of them. In a meeting where my camera was off.

Working from home does something weird to your relationship with the kitchen. It is right there. All day. Nobody is watching. So I built a system — nothing fancy, just a few rules and physical barriers — that has cut my mindless snacking by probably 80%. Here is what works.

The out-of-sight rule (this alone helps the most)

Move every snack food — chips, crackers, cookies, trail mix — from the counter to a high cabinet or a drawer with a child lock. Not because you are a child, but because the three seconds it takes to open the drawer gives your brain enough time to ask: “Am I actually hungry, or am I just bored?”

I put my snacks in a cabinet above the refrigerator. I need a step stool to reach it. By the time I have dragged the stool over and climbed up, the impulse has usually passed. When I am really hungry, I go through the effort. When I am just restless, I sigh and go back to my desk.

The corollary: keep healthy stuff visible. A bowl of apples on the counter. A container of washed grapes at eye level in the fridge. Cherry tomatoes in a bowl next to your laptop. If you are going to graze, make it easy to graze on the right things.

The pre-portioned rule

Never eat directly from a multi-serving bag or box. Ever. Pour a portion into a small bowl or ramekin. The difference between “a handful of chips” and eating from the bag is the difference between 150 calories and 600 calories, and you will not notice either one while you are staring at a spreadsheet.

I bought a set of tiny bowls — the kind used for dipping sauce at a sushi restaurant — and they are my snack bowls now. Each one holds about a quarter cup. That is the portion. If I want more, I have to get up, go to the high cabinet, get the step stool, pour another portion. The friction is intentional.

The water test

Before you open any snack, drink a full glass of water and wait ten minutes. Thirst and hunger signals come from the same part of the brain and your body mixes them up constantly. I would guess half of my “snack attacks” were actually mild dehydration.

I keep a 32-ounce water bottle on my desk with hour markings on the side. If I have not finished it by 2 PM, I drink the rest before I allow myself any afternoon snack. This rule alone kills most of the 3 PM cookie cravings.

The gum trick for conference calls

If you snack during meetings because you are fidgety, not hungry, chew sugar-free gum instead. It gives your mouth something to do without the calories. I keep a pack of mint gum in my desk drawer specifically for long calls. When I am done chewing, the meeting is usually at a point where I need to talk, and the gum comes out.