As a thyroid patient advocate, I’ve gotten questions like these every day for more than 25 years. Everyone seems to want natural solutions to their health challenges, and the 20+ million people in the U.S. with thyroid disease are no exception.

January is Thyroid Awareness Month, and to help spread awareness, I have an important message for my fellow thyroid patients. If you had surgery to remove your thyroid gland, radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment for hyperthyroidism, or Hashimoto’s disease or hypothyroidism with a poorly functioning or atrophied thyroid, you aren’t producing enough – or any — thyroid hormone! And we need thyroid hormone to survive! And despite the ads, books, and marketing pitches, no natural supplement, vitamin, mineral, or food can replace the thyroid hormone your cells, tissues, organs, and glands need to function.

That means that for most of us with hypothyroidism – the most common thyroid problem in the U.S. – prescription medication is not optional; it’s actually essential. At the same time, even with treatment, many of us continue to struggle with unresolved issues like fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, low libido, other hormonal imbalances, high cholesterol, or insulin resistance. That’s when conventional medicine often fails us, with little to offer besides more pharmaceuticals. And hormone replacement drugs, statins, and diabetes medications usually come with a long list of additional side effects – and a hefty price tag! (And there’s another problem: these drugs often don’t work the way we want them to!)

That’s when, in my opinion, it’s time to consider a more holistic approach that brings the best natural solutions into the mix to help safely resolve continuing symptoms. But how do you get reliable information about natural approaches? If you ask conventional, allopathic physicians, many will tell you that taking vitamins and supplements for any health condition is like “flushing money down the toilet.” On the other side, some holistic and natural practitioners claim that all pharmaceuticals are overpriced poisons and that you should “flush your prescription drugs down the toilet” because natural solutions are always better. The truth is not that black and white, and the whole issue can be totally confusing for thyroid patients who simply want to feel better but don’t know where to start!

For years, I’ve had opportunities to promote or endorse many supplements, and I just don’t do it. What I’ve chosen to do instead is to selectively recommend only those supplements that have scientific evidence behind them and that have personally worked for my coaching clients and readers – and me. I call it “patient evidence-based medicine,” and it’s served me well all these years.

Among my very small list of recommended supplements for thyroid patients are products from Whole World Botanicals. There are four key reasons why I use and recommend their products.