You’ve woken up with a headache, nausea and are somehow more tired than before you went to sleep. This isn’t a case of the flu or common cold, but rather a side effect of a few too many margaritas from the festivities of the night before.

I can admit that I’ve been in this position more often than not after a night of drinking. As irresponsible as it sounds, it’s become a routine with my friends and I to wake up groggy and out-of-focus. With ibuprofen in hand, we usually make our way either to the most readily available breakfast joint or anywhere that will sell a burrito the size of a human head.

This greasy meal is only a quick relief, for the most part. On a hungover day, those 20 minutes of indulging in the ultimate cheat foods feel amazing at the moment, but the symptoms come back to haunt the remainder of the day. There’s no mystery behind why we automatically crave these foods either. Part of having a hangover is dehydration and this makes us crave fatty and oily foods whether we like it or not, according to Spoon University.

But is an egg and cheese sandwich paired with a side of hash browns and fatty strips of bacon really what’s best for the body while recovering from alcohol? To my surprise, science says no.

Eating greasy and unhealthy food after the alcohol has already absorbed into the body will make hangovers worse, as reported by an article by VinePair. But while fruit and granola might be your best bet the morning after, greasy food actually does help before consuming alcohol. The fat in these foods cling to the stomach lining and prevents the alcohol from absorbing at a fast rate. This makes you less drunk, and therefore less likely to wake up hungover.

Making sure food is in your system is vital to making sure you have a safe night while drinking. Along with this, to prevent waking up dehydrated and craving food that will make symptoms worse, drinking water in between every alcoholic beverage will make a difference. There is no proven cure for a hangover, but there are ways to prevent them if you take the right steps.

I’m hoping I’ll remember all of this the next time I have the urge to order pizza while drinking or wake up the morning after wanting diner food. It’s hard to say if anybody with this knowledge in mind will remember to practice it, but at the very least we should all invest in the promise to drink more water while having drunk fun.

Rayanne Painter can be reached at [email protected] or @rayphenomenon on Twitter.