We've all heard that eating right before you go to bed will make you fat, but according to TIME, that may not be completely true. In fact, choosing the right snack may not just keep you from packing on the pounds, but may also stabilize your blood sugar, which will help you sleep better. It's almost too good to be true, we know, but here's how it works.

Apparently, we still burn calories while we're asleep, and in the eight or so hours that we're in bed, our body also releases hunger hormones, the same ones that tell our body to store fat. According to Cassie Bjork, a registered dietician and founder of HealthySimpleLife.com, however, eating the right snack before bed can keep those hunger hormones under control.

TIME also reports that eating right can stabilize our blood sugar levels, preventing it from dropping, and consequently, disrupting our sleep. “Having low blood sugar in the morning will cause a person to feel sluggish and make it more difficult to get out of bed,” says Stephanie Maxson, senior clinical dietician at the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center.

But what kind of bedtime snack should we reach for exactly? The usual desserts just won't cut it. Maxson says you need to go for complex carbohydrates like whole wheat bread, non-starchy vegetables, popcorn, and fruit. Sounds good to us!

(Photo by Michael Bussell via Flickr Creative Commons)