Happy Halloween! For anyone new here: this is The Skinny, where we serve up curated, need-to-know lifestyle news designed to entertain and save you time, which is everyone’s most valuable resource.

• Digesting the Skinny’s curated news = 5 minutes + more time spent on meaningful activities.

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What we’re covering: 

• In honor of El Dia de los Muertos, Ask a Mezcalera: the secrets of this spirit, and whether mezcal can help lessen or avoid a hangover

• Treats news, plus tricks to combat candy overconsumption

• Are convenience stores a new dining ‘destination’?

• Burn book: how to work off 3500 calories

• Plus: your new holiday pants, the best workout for longevity & why oat milk might not really be good for you after all

💡Did you know: all The Skinny editions are online and searchable—which means you can easily find topics/recipes/items we have written about in the past. Bookmark this link for easy reference.

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The secrets of mezcal

We asked, the spirits answered

The Skinny: In honor of El Día de los Muertos (tomorrow), let’s get into the spirit by talking to a Maestra Mezcalera. Isabel Santiago, of ZOMOZ Mezcal, is the first woman to distill mezcal in her family, and is here to help us understand the beauty of this spirit—just in time for the Day of the Dead.  

What role does mezcal play in Day of the Dead traditions? 

The Day of the Dead is a reason for celebration and happiness for us, because we believe that our deceased visit us, therefore what they liked most in life cannot be missing, and mezcal cannot be missing. It represents for us a reason for conviviality, of union between family, friends, and people who are no longer with us.

For the uninitiated, what is the simplest way to explain the difference between mezcal and tequila? Why should you choose to drink one over the other?

There are different factors that differentiate them but first, there are more than 30 species of maguey to make mezcal, while for tequila there is only one variety. Mezcal is 100% agave while the tequila regulation allows other sugars to be added. The mezcal process is more artisanal-ancestral, unlike tequila which is mostly industrialized. 

When tasting this I loved the subtle and smooth notes, and its flavor profile. How do you achieve those notes/flavors if there are only two ingredients? 

The soft and smooth profile is deliberate. Spirit writers have actually told us we are a great gateway mezcal. We use “our secret” filtration at the end. But most importantly, as I’ve said before, we women have a unique touch. We use solely espadin agave to create Zomoz.

Why is it important to wash each agave plant by hand?

To clarify, the agave plants are not ‘washed’ in a typical way. What we do is clean the magueys by hand, that is, we remove weeds and we loosen the soil so that the maguey develops correctly. It is important because it helps us see how the plant is developing.

Some say that drinking mezcal exclusively can help avoid or lessen a hangover. Why is that?

Yes, since it is a distilled spirit whose process is natural and its onlyingredient is maguey, it is not mixed with any other ingredients—so that helps the hangover. Obviously, if we mix it with beer or some other liquor, it’s a different story..That is why we say that we drink mezcal alone and pure. And always drink in moderation.

And, possibly in these cool sipping glasses (editor’s note).

Candy land

Tricks to manage overconsumption of treats

The Skinny: While we’re not advocating for daily sugar consumption, a once-a-year Halloween candy buzz is something we feel you can allow yourself (if it’s something you enjoy). We all have our likes (Skittles! Life Saver Gummies! 100 Grand!) and dislikes (Three Musketeers—insipid, and definitely lacking the courage of an armed soldier), but if you read one article about the best/worst candy, it should be this one from The Cut. Read on to see why we agree with her sentiments on Raisinets, and that a “hex should be cast upon” anyone handing out Welch’s Fruit Snacks to anyone over the age of four. 

While there is much to love, these stealth tips (such as: count the empty candy wrappers and eat with your non-dominant hand) will help you avoid overindulging. And not to be a buzzkill, but if you’re curious, these are the candies with the lowest quality ingredients. While we will not give up Skittles (a couple of times a year), this does validate our dislike for candy corn. 

M&M’s is crushing the candy news cycle with a new holiday flavor that just dropped, and, in a twist “no one saw coming,” Peanut M&M's dethroned Reese's Peanut Butter Cups  for the top spot as “most popular,” and we welcomed a new Bronze medalist: Sour Patch Kids. 

But wait, there’s more. We saw on SNL’s Weekend Update that M&M’s were also named the “healthiest candy” (simply because it contains nuts and actual milk chocolate), yet from the link above, the candies were among those with the “lowest quality ingredients.” Different expert sources, different opinions. But all agree: we aren’t eating candy for the nutritional value. 

Finally, a note from your dentist: Aside from giving out toothbrushes as trick-or-treats (we can thank an alert reader for this reminder), they will always say that chocolate has a lower risk of tooth decay than sticky candies. And, wait to brush your teeth 30 to 60 minutes after eating candy.

Crème de la Skinny  

C-stores as dining destinations

The Skinny: Media and communications industry types, like us, will appreciate this quote regarding the evolution of “better” convenience store “menu” offerings: “It has been a decades-long journey to go from food that was perceived as desperation to destination” —Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives for the National Association of Convenience Stores. From the use of the word “journey” to depict this struggle, and the presumption that these are already “destinations,” please give whomever wrote this press release a raise.

This, and this alone, has inspired us to write an upcoming item on the finest regional c-store destinations and must-haves (stay tuned, because it’s going to be good). For now, we’ll whet your appetite with the best 7-11 food (which includes the U.S. version of the famous Japanese 7-11 egg sandwich), as reviewed by Sporked.

🔥Baby burn

How to work off 3,500 calories

The Skinny: How to burn 3,500 calories:

• 3-10 hours on a treadmill 

• Jumping rope—which is one of the best OG and total-body workouts—and several other options that “burn the most calories” 

• Add to cart: This $7 jump rope 

We learned a lot from this article on how to offset a sugar binge, but for the TDLR, here is a 3-step post-Halloween recovery:

🍳Make one of these day-after Hallloween breakfast recipes that will help get you back to normal (food styling and adorable mini cast-iron pans not included)

🏋🏻‍♀️Pump up the protein intake. Quick hits of protein will help stabilize blood sugar—try cottage cheese (yes we know…again), frozen cottage cheese ‘ice cream’ (oh yeah, and it’s called Smearcase) or plain Greek yogurt are the easiest ways to add protein in a flash. 

🌊Drink tons of water to flush your system…to optimize, add lemon and a pinch of sea salt 

🍎Pro Tip: The Glucose Goddess recommends 1T apple cider vinegar in a glass of water BEFORE consuming sweets to rescue the glucose spike (she says ANY vinegar will work in a pinch)

OHM, THERE'S MORE

This week’s newsfeed

• In the spirit of Halloween, a collection of moody and dark bedrooms (some of which scare us, actually).

• Oopsie! One of our most-clicked links last week (on Sweater Weather!) didn’t work, so we’re posting it again here.

• We’ve talked about the virtues and many uses of Vaseline before, but here’s exactly how to use it as an under-eye treatment.

• Complete with memes, quotes from our favorite biochemist (the Glucose Goddess) and a dose of schadenfreude: the Independent investigates the demise of oat milk as a “healthier” alternative. 

• Experts say strength training is one of the best fitness modalities for longevity, but it's important to do it safely—to avoid injury—especially as you age. Here’s how.

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