Christine Van Bloem and Kristin Smedley of Daffodil Pathways have a lively discussion about navigating menopause and holistic health practices, with a focus on empowerment and self-advocacy.
The conversation delves into Kristin's journey transitioning from nursing to holistic nursing, menopause experiences, and empowering women to become their own health advocates. We discovered the inspiration behind Daffodil Pathways and the resilience symbolized by daffodils. Kristin shared her expertise on self-discovery, mental health during menopause, and the importance of finding an educated health provider.
Enjoy a special offer for podcast listeners to engage with Kristin's services at Daffodil Pathways, emphasizing self-care and holistic health practices. Stay tuned for more empowering conversations with Christine Van Bloem and inspiring guests on Empty Nest Kitchen!
Find Kristin here:
Christine Van Bloem and Kristin Smedley of Daffodil Pathways have a lively discussion about navigating menopause and holistic health practices, with a focus on empowerment and self-advocacy.
The conversation delves into Kristin's journey transitioning from nursing to holistic nursing, menopause experiences, and empowering women to become their own health advocates. We discovered the inspiration behind Daffodil Pathways and the resilience symbolized by daffodils. Kristin shared her expertise on self-discovery, mental health during menopause, and the importance of finding an educated health provider.
Enjoy a special offer for podcast listeners to engage with Kristin's services at Daffodil Pathways, emphasizing self-care and holistic health practices. Stay tuned for more empowering conversations with Christine Van Bloem and inspiring guests on Empty Nest Kitchen!
Find Kristin here:
I am here today with the lovely and talented Kristen Smedley of Daffodil Pathways, who I have known, I, Kristen, it feels like we've known each other for a really long time.
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. And I was actually thinking about that and trying to figure out when we met. And I want to say it was in the Inspired Chef ish years, right?
Christine Van Bloem:I think like 2002,
Kristin Smedley:That,
Christine Van Bloem:maybe? So we've known each other for a long time. And even though you have been a registered nurse for, we'll just say a while. What? Even though you've been a registered nurse for a while, I know that you also had a food component that you worked in, and that is how you and I first got paired up.
Kristin Smedley:Yeah.. I went to nursing school and then went to culinary school, got a culinary certificate. And I think we met when I was doing my personal chefing and I actually shadowed you, if you remember that. So yeah,
Christine Van Bloem:lucky I remembered to put underpants on, so, you know.
Kristin Smedley:just remember you hauling the pots and pans around on a, like, rolling cart and I thought, Oh my gosh, I don't know if I'm going to be able to do
Christine Van Bloem:Yeah, I know. That's hardcore, dragging those pots and pans around, right?
Kristin Smedley:Yes, for
Christine Van Bloem:It is. It is. And you had you had a lunch counter. You had a lunch restaurant in Downtown Frederick.
Kristin Smedley:Yes. Urban Dish. That was from, yeah, for two and a half years. Loved that place. I was just talking to my kids the other day about it. They asked me if there was anything that I would go back and redo. And I said Urban Dish. It was just fun. It was probably one of the hardest jobs physically that I've ever done. But I met so many great people and just a great experience to be able to cook and create and be creative and just an awesome, awesome time.
Christine Van Bloem:That's the best part. I, I think people have this really,, lovely wrong view about working in food, right? Because maybe they pour themselves a glass of wine, and they have the music on, and somebody's cooking with them, or they're hanging out, and oh, wouldn't it be great to do this as a career? No, no, it would not be great. You will always smell bad. You won't know how to eat if it's not over a trash can.
Kristin Smedley:Your shoes are
Christine Van Bloem:will always hurt. Your hair will smell like barbecue.
Kristin Smedley:gosh. Can't get the smells out. Ever.
Christine Van Bloem:But you have moved on. And you know, one of the things that's really important to me with the whole Empty Nest Kitchen thing is that I'm talking to empty nesters and you have four kids,
Kristin Smedley:I have four kids, yes.
Christine Van Bloem:you do, and they're moving on up. Oh,
Kristin Smedley:Yes. All of my kids are out of the house. My youngest is now a sophomore in college.
Christine Van Bloem:my gosh.
Kristin Smedley:so yeah, I'm an empty nester.
Christine Van Bloem:It's a big change, right?
Kristin Smedley:It's a huge change. And there are times I think when, you know, I'm sure everyone goes through the, Oh my gosh, what just happened? The house is so quiet. Now, what do I do with my partner? You know, just real. Yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:We felt, we felt like, it was quiet, but we felt like we could breathe again.
Kristin Smedley:Okay. Yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:Do you know what I mean? And love, love my kids, right? Absolutely adore my children. But there was kind of this peace that settled in over the house that I didn't mind as it went. Do you feel the same way?
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. You know, I think in this time, all the hustle and bustle that we did and taking care of our kids, taking care of the home and cooking and just, you know, all the ins and outs of getting them places. And then suddenly it stops, but just sort of like your shoulders drop and you can breathe and you get to enjoy them as adults now. And it's, it's a different, different experience. It's great. Yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:I remember when our daughter, who's our youngest, played her last softball game and we were relieved just like when our son had his last Boy Scout meeting. We were relieved, but then we were kind of like, well, Those are all the people that we socialize with. You know, we say, Hey, you know, we talk at the games and we do the stuff and all of the sudden, I mean, that's like a hard out, you know what I mean? You're, there's no like gentleness to it. It's moving on. And then just like the kids move up a grade or, you know, move to the next level, the parents kind of bump up that level, right? And they're ready to be the parents of seniors Whatever. And I remember that was, that was a little harder, I think, for my husband, but I went to all the games and stuff. So, I kind of missed it, but I also did not miss it.
Kristin Smedley:exactly. In the car a lot. Yeah. Yeah. And I think putting an effort into, you know, friendships again in a different way, right? Like you said, you know, I'm standing at the bus stop talking to moms. Hey, you want to go grab a coffee? Or, you know, But yeah, it's, it's it can be a
Christine Van Bloem:so, you're so good because I am talking to my dead mother. That is all the socialization I'm getting right now. I kid you not. I'm like. Hey mom, just so you know, and we're having a deep conversation in the house. She, you know, she's pretty quiet about it right now, but it's so funny. That socialization is so weird. I find that I've like female friendships in your forties and I'm not even going to say early forties cause I think they're in a different place, but in your late forties and your fifties. That, that's a, I mean, that's a time, right? That can be a challenging thing.
Kristin Smedley:yeah, most definitely. And I, I definitely think about it more now because, you know, you can go a week. And not talk to anyone really
Christine Van Bloem:Yeah.
Kristin Smedley:And then all of a sudden, you know, kind of feel like, Oh, maybe I should reach out to her or, you know, let's go grab a drink or a coffee. So, yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:I always feel so awkward. Like, I'm the kid in the back, you know, corner picking my nose with my underpants around my shoulders that I just, you know, I'm like so awkward around people because I'm loving being in my house. I'm loving it.
Kristin Smedley:really? Yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:I am. I didn't think I would, but I am. But listen, I, we could talk all day because we've talked about this stuff like two decades ago. But I wanted to talk to you because you're doing something that I think is super, super cool. And this is actually why I wanted you to come on, because you have a new business called Daffodil Pathways. And can I just say, that sounds like the loveliest, like, spring, wonderful sort of thing. Tell me what it is you're doing.
Kristin Smedley:Yeah, well, just a little caveat on the daffodils. I think it's important because everyone says, you know, why is it called Daffodil Pathway? Well, side note, daffodils are my birth flower, which is kind of corny, but the daffodil is a very resilient, strong flower that you have to plant one at a time, and then they come up one at a time. So as we go through life, you know, being that resilient, strong woman. And setting goals and maybe different,, life events happening along the way. So I just thought it was
Christine Van Bloem:love the symbolism. Corny by tush, man. I love it. I'm embracing all the corniness right now. Give it all to me. I think that's lovely. I don't think that's even a little corny. All right, so we're planting one by one. What, what are you doing?
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. So being a nurse, I started looking into more self discovery and self awareness and what else can I do in my nursing career that would be impactful and really meaningful for people and, you know, for me to give. So I, I actually hired my own coach. This was a couple of years ago, really learned from her and just Thought, you know what, maybe, maybe I can do this. So I looked into it. I went into training and I went to a special holistic nurses training that's backed by the Holistic Nurses Association. It's accredited and spent the last nine months doing that. This was last year. And then in the middle of all that, I went through menopause. And coming out of it, you know, was it trying to finish all of my practicum was really a struggle during that time. And I came out thinking, what am I going to, how, how am I going to coach? How am I going to present myself? And what kind of people do I want to talk to?
Christine Van Bloem:Yes.
Kristin Smedley:And It was a big, you know, a small light bulb really, because I thought I need to talk to people that have gone through what I've been through and guide them and show them the roadmap to feeling better and really diving into their health history. Maybe diving into, you know, personal goals and self awareness and just empower women to become their own advocate for their health and their life during this time, because it can be so. Difficult. Sweaty.
Christine Van Bloem:So sweaty.
Kristin Smedley:call it fleshy rather than flashy. But yeah. And so many things are changing on top of the menopause that, yeah, it's a huge challenge.
Christine Van Bloem:Okay. So I have to tell you, I have been getting my knickers in a twist this week because, and I think you're going to appreciate this. You know, we have the Boomers, bless their hearts, and we have the Millennials, bless their hearts, and Gen X, right? We're the, we're the generation, we're tough and, you know, everybody ignores us. And I have noticed, Nobody talks about menopause because all of our millennial friends, again, bless their hearts, I love a millennial, truly, everybody's talking about perimenopause. And I'm like, well, yeah, that's fine. But what about us? Like, are we just skipping it? Are we just It's like this whole thing where nobody will talk about it. And the thing I do love about the younger generations are They do not care and they're like this is happening and this is important And I feel like we missed our opportunity when we were going through that And I love that like truly. I love that younger people are our only hope for the world. Sorry my pitch but I love that you're actually a Addressing the whole menopause thing because my husband's a good guy but I can see him just kind of blank space it when you know other than my 7 p. m hot flash that I get every night when I like strip it off whatever I've got on and he's like he knows it's coming and but he just kind of gets this blank look on his face because they can't understand what you're going through.
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, recently have thought it would be really great to have A course for men, or for couples, to really educate the men. Do you think they would show up? I mean,
Christine Van Bloem:focus on the ladies, maybe.
Kristin Smedley:if we served some food, maybe. But,
Christine Van Bloem:That's so good. So, so if I was like, Kristen, I am, you know, menopausal baby. I am putting on the weight. I've got the flappy belly. I've got, you know, the sweat coming when, you know, when the hair follicles begin to sweat. That's my favorite part. I love that part. Is it spitzing? Yeah. I get it. Like the nape of my neck is where it goes. I've like, I've walked around in a bra. Like when no one's here, I'm like, screw it. And I'm just in the bra all the time. So if somebody comes to you, how are you going to work with them? Like how are you going to lend them a hand to help ease their transition?
Kristin Smedley:yeah, so I would do probably a very extensive health history initially and really, you know, find out what they're doing now and then, you You know, I have a list of symptoms, you know, what are your symptoms? And then perhaps having them do a symptom diary for a week so that we can come back later and let's revisit when this happens, what was happening, you know, the what, when, why, and how, but during that symptom and then giving them the tools to, you know, some natural tools, some nutrition recommendations, maybe even supplement. within my nursing scope of practice. And I, if I feel they need something more, if they're interested in looking into hormone therapy, then I would recommend their provider or a provider if they needed one specifically one that is NAM certified by the National Association of Menopause Specialists. I
Christine Van Bloem:Oh, there's an organization?
Kristin Smedley:yes, there's an organization. If you go to menopause. org, you can put your zip code in and you can see which providers have been, you know, certified by the organization. The menopause society.
Christine Van Bloem:So great.
Kristin Smedley:yeah, yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:is that an, I've never heard of that. Is that a newish thing?
Kristin Smedley:I don't think so. Honestly, I would need to go there and see when they were, you know, when it was founded. But I can, you know, give you that information and
Christine Van Bloem:Maybe they're just getting, maybe they're just getting marketing going.
Kristin Smedley:maybe, Oh,
Christine Van Bloem:I would really want to look at in a provider.
Kristin Smedley:absolutely. I think a lot in not, and I love my provider, but I think, you know, provide a doctor's go to medical school and they only learn about menopause for I want to say I don't don't quote me on this but let's say for three hours they talk about menopause and then they move on to the next subject but These providers have gone into some more extensive training and education on, you know, okay, how do we talk about hormones? How do we talk about diet? What, what labs do we draw or, you know, what's really going on in this woman's body so that I can help her? Yeah. So I think it's important to find a provider that is educated.
Christine Van Bloem:Heck yeah, man. And I mean, half the world goes through this. That's the crazy thing.
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. And
Christine Van Bloem:the crazy
Kristin Smedley:yeah, some little facts in 2025. I'm putting this off the top of my head. There'll be 1. 1 billion women in menopause.
Christine Van Bloem:What?
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. Just like, just really like embrace that. That's, is that crazy?
Christine Van Bloem:Yeah, it is. And, and that, you know, I remember my mom, I'm talking about my mom a lot today, but I remember coming back, coming home from New York in the winter and my mom was very chill, right? She was Quiet woman. She was very chill. And I remember watching her, it was snowing outside. She had taken her robe off. She was just wearing a nightgown streaking across the kitchen to go outside and sit on the swing in the carport. And I mean, I was like early 20s, right? And I was like, what the heck is wrong with her, man? And now I'm just like, oh mom, I feel ya. I feel ya now, you know? It's crazy to me that we have ignored this for so long. What, what made you, like, what really made you want to do this?
Kristin Smedley:I was feeling horrible. I was feeling horrible in a sense of, you know, really mental health and wondering to myself, not even thinking about menopause, but. Am I depressed? Like what is going on in my head? I'm so aware of this and it is really concerning. I think because the, the mental, emotional impact of your estrogen declining has such an effect on your brain, you know, brain fog and anxiety and all of these things, and you know, the stress response gets all out of whack. So. You just, it, it's, it's scary. And I was a little bit scared. I was afraid. And so I went to my doctor and said, you know, what is going on? And just kept asking questions, doing a lot of research and even, you know, being a clinical nurse, I, I had to do that same research. And so there's people out there that. I don't even know, they don't know the questions to ask, you know, so, but you know, on top of the clinical piece of coaching, there's, you know, the whole empty nest, you know, who am I now? What is my purpose now?
Christine Van Bloem:One two punch.
Kristin Smedley:Right. And where, where am I going to go now in just what we talked about, like relationships and my job, or do I find a new career? So, you know, really focusing on all of those things. And it's just a. Big bundle of cluster crap. You know?
Christine Van Bloem:Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's kind of, I mean, of course, everything's unfair, right? But it's kind of devastating to go through. menopause, thinking you're crazy feeling rotten looking at a grape and gaining four pounds. And then your kids who you've spent all this time building your whole life around, right? With, The sports and the activities and maybe the dance and, you know, all of that, they go, you start to get sweaty and go crazy. If you have a partner, they're looking at you like you have lost every marble you ever had. And you probably didn't have that many to start with. You know, so it's, it's a little unfair. It's a little unfair. But I'm also of the Of course, it's not fair. Let's move on.
Kristin Smedley:Oh, yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:I kind of feel like you're there. I just, I love this so much, you know, that you're doing this because you have this gentle loving and compassionate vibe,
Kristin Smedley:Oh,
Christine Van Bloem:I'm like, an electrocuted bunny. You are like, you just, you've always had this really lovely vibe and this seems like such a nice fit for you. So how, like if somebody was saying this, you know, this is piquing my interest. I'm, I'm curious, but of course I'm a Gen X woman so I don't want to commit to anything. Where, where Is there more information? I mean, I'm guessing you offer some different things here, some different packages that you do. Tell me about those.
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. So I'm offering three types of packages. One would be like a deep dive and a shorter time. So two hours, let's really dig into your health and I'll give you the recommendations to take to your provider. And then we'd come back again and revisit, you know, how did the visit go sort of being your advocate when you're going to meet with your provider. And then the second package would be a three month. that would include that deep dive and also really going into that, you know, mental health, emotionally, where are you, what's your purpose and your social relationships, all of that setting some goals physically and for nutrition. And then the third one would be a longer six month package that, would be a hardcore look at probably nutrition. And I, I may refer out to nutrition because I'm not a nutritionist, but I have a potential partnerships with a nutritionist that would be able to really look at your, your health conditions, your current diet, make those recommendations and then come back to me and we can just really start setting the goals for your path forward. So yeah,
Christine Van Bloem:I love that. Really nice. And, and you're at daffodilpathways. com?
Kristin Smedley:I am at daffodilpathways. com. You can go there and subscribe to my email, so there is a subscribe button.
Christine Van Bloem:What about social?
Kristin Smedley:So social, I am ksmeddy, K S M E D D Y on Instagram. And I'm Kristen Hall Smedley on Facebook. You can email me on Instagram. There's an email link there. I have a link tree to go to subscribe to the email as well. on Instagram.
Christine Van Bloem:Love it. All right. Now I have to ask because I know that you are A cook at heart. All right. What are you cooking now?
Kristin Smedley:Oh my gosh. You know, recently I've been just trying to pack in the nutrients and I've been making a lot of, and you, you probably are aware of this, that I'm vegan. And I all plant, whole food plant based. Lots of stews, lots of veggies, kale, beans throw some tofu in there, you know, root vegetables, and just make a really nice hearty stew. Now that spring is coming, I'm really excited to, to find some great fresh vegetables soon. And I usually make like like a Buddha bowl over rice with fresh veggies and roasted vegetables. So I try to keep it simple, but yeah,
Christine Van Bloem:Well, I mean, vegan is a big thing.
Kristin Smedley:yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:Vegan is a, that's a big commitment.
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. It is. It is.
Christine Van Bloem:power to you, man. I love that. I, I really want to figure out more tofu.
Kristin Smedley:Mm hmm.
Christine Van Bloem:I'm trying to cook, I just made these black bean and sweet potato tacos with quick pickled red onions and I was like, ooh, these are so delicious. And my husband's like, oh, and I'm kind of like, well, I'm making it,
Kristin Smedley:like a recipe.
Christine Van Bloem:It's here, you know, kind of thing. But I, I love that. Tofu is, I'm, I'm curious by it. And one of my previous guests is a lifelong vegetarian.
Kristin Smedley:Oh, okay.
Christine Van Bloem:like, so she's never had meat. And it's really fascinating because I dip a toe into pescatarian waters and I'm definitely eating more vegetarian than I used to. But You know, it's fascinating trying to learn new stuff, isn't it?
Kristin Smedley:Oh, yeah, and I'm always looking for new recipes, you know, just to kind of change it up, but I tend to stick to the same things, but I know, right? When I do change things up, I usually end up Finding a baking, you know, pie or cookie, a new vegan cookie that I can make. So it's just, you know, a little, little side thing.
Christine Van Bloem:Okay, and I have one more question for you, because as a vegan, I think you can answer this for me. Do you ever use aquafaba, which is the bean liquid from chickpeas? Do you ever use that in your desserts?
Kristin Smedley:I do as, as an egg whites, an egg white substitute.
Christine Van Bloem:Okay, because I've never done it. Oh,
Kristin Smedley:oh really? Oh no, and you know how, and now I don't know the name of the drink, you, you may know it, you know, you have the egg white foam on top,
Christine Van Bloem:Yeah, yeah,
Kristin Smedley:you can use aquafaba for that, mix it with some sugar, put it in a shaker, and it makes a really pretty egg white foam on top.
Christine Van Bloem:Like, I've seen Sours, like a whiskey sour or, you know, graduate college in the 80s, so amaretto sour all day, baby. But I've seen in some of the fancier restaurants that they have aquafaba in their drinks. And I've had it, you know, cuz I'll try anything. I don't care. But I've never made anything.
Kristin Smedley:yeah,
Christine Van Bloem:I've never experimented
Kristin Smedley:it's pretty good, it works well.
Christine Van Bloem:Okay, so one of my things is, I'm, I'm breaking it down and cooking for one and two people. Right, so this morning I made a batch of four biscuits, you know, and that was it for not huge biscuits I was very proud of myself, but we're baking for one and two gets tricky is the egg, right?
Kristin Smedley:Yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:you can't I mean technically you can beat the egg weigh it Throw out half the egg who wants to do that. We don't want to do that. So As you say this, I'm like, I wonder if I could figure something out with Aquafaba to help with my baking.
Kristin Smedley:And I buy an egg substitute. It's actually a powder made from chickpea powder and you add water to it and it makes this nice thick creamy added, you know, it, it looks kind of egg whitey egg, you know I made cupcakes the other day and it, they turned out great. I mean, no one would ever know. So yeah.
Christine Van Bloem:so cool. Oh, I love that, Kristen. All right. Well, I know that you're going to have a special offer for the listeners of this. Incredibly popular podcast. Can I tell you I was checking the day we launched. I'm checking. I'm like, I have a hybrid downloads. I'm like losing my bananas and I know this doesn't mean anything, but I am so grateful because it's the most fun thing to do ever. But I'm going to put in the show notes the special offer that you have for everybody. I think there's a 15 percent discount if they if they book. A couple of sessions with you and you can use the code EmptyNestKitchen,
Kristin Smedley:Empty Nest Kitchen.
Christine Van Bloem:And I'll have all of that info in the show notes now that I'm learning how to do the show notes and I'm just so grateful for you taking the time and this is exciting. I, I think this is such a great service
Kristin Smedley:Thank you. Thank you so much. And I thank you for having me and I'm super excited for you and all this podcast. Yeah. It's great.
Christine Van Bloem:It's just, it's, it wasn't this easy? Wasn't this easier than you thought it would be?
Kristin Smedley:It was.
Christine Van Bloem:It was. You get, you get into it, and you guys can't see this, but Krista and I are looking at each other. I have, we're not recording the video but it's easier because you're just talking to a friend. You're just talking to somebody, and no pressure.
Kristin Smedley:Yeah. It's great. This was awesome. Totally.
Christine Van Bloem:Awesome. Kristin, thank you so much. I'm excited for Daffodil Pathways and you getting your website all online and it's, it's going to be terrific. I can't wait to have you back so you can tell me all of your success stories.
Kristin Smedley:I can't wait for that either. I'll put that out in the universe.
Christine Van Bloem:we're putting it out there. We're manifesting, gosh darn it.
Kristin Smedley:Yes, yes, for sure. Thank you, Chris. Thank you so much for
Christine Van Bloem:So thank you. Thank you so much. And everybody EmptyNestKitchen. com. You can always go and check out any classes that are coming your way. I'd love to cook with you.
Thanks so much. And,, I'll see you in the kitchen.