About | My Story | What is Clinical Nutrition

About Sally-Ann

Sally-Ann spent most of her life sick with chronic asthma, sinusitis and panic disorder, undergoing many operations to her sinuses, and spending 13 long years as a “victim” of panic disorder and agoraphobia. Once she had regained her health, she qualified as a Clinical Nutritionist in order to help others experience the same results. Having found that food and supplements could dramatically change her life, giving her the quality of life she’d always dreamed about, she decided to study so that she could help others. Her story is related in her book “Let Food Be Your Medicine” – an easy to understand guide to healthy living.

Sally-Ann has been interviewed on many radio stations, spoken as a guest speaker for groups of people around the world, including specialist physicians, churches, societies and schools – bringing a message of hope through food. In addition to the above, Sally-Ann has been quoted in many magazines and newspapers around the country, and enjoys the opportunity to contribute to the health of people’s lives in this way on a regular basis. Sally-Ann has been the health writer for several magazines for many years including contributing monthly to the South African Journal of Natural Medicine, Christian Living Today, many e-magazines and national publications.

Of special interest to Sally-Ann is the question of women’s hormones, having seen the anguish of women going through menopause, infertility, osteoporosis and PMT. She began researching the dangers of synthetic hormone replacement therapy and The Pill a decade ago and now recommends safe, natural alternatives.

Sally-Ann and her husband Bill (who holds a medical physiology degree) present in-depth nutrition courses together, and Sally-Ann runs shorter “Introduction to Nutrition” courses around the country of around 2-4 days each. Bill and Sally-Ann now facilitate 2 world-class Australian correspondence courses for the African continent for Dr Robert Buist's Academy of Nutrition in Sydney, Australia. For more details click here.

My Story


My testimony is one of miraculous healing by a compassionate God. Although I am a qualified Clinical Nutritionist, I didn't look for my present vocation - it all happened as a serendipitous result of my illness, and I believe God had a plan through it all.

Diagnosed with chronic asthma at five years old, my childhood was characterised by long periods of bed-rest, drugs and hospitals. I married Bill, and together we had to weather the storm of my increasing ill health. By my early thirties, I suffered regular chest infections and serious asthma attacks, necessitating frequent hospitalisation to save my life. My mother died at the age of 39 from an asthma attack, and it seemed I was heading the same way. Bill lovingly cared for me, praying compassionately for me throughout this time.

Hospitalisation was a regular and normal part of our lives always followed by protracted bed rest with antibiotics and cortisone and many other drugs. I often prayed God would take me home, as fighting for the next breath, my body would ache unbearably. I couldn't lie down, and would have to sit upright for days at a time just to breathe - sleep was impossible. Asthmatic lungs are often scarred, enlarged or damaged. Bronchospasm and the production of sticky mucous hampers breathing. Weak lungs collapse, and weak hearts give in.

"Always do right; this will gratify some and astonish the rest"
- Mark Twain

By my late thirties with my poor diet, bad management of my disease, and too many drugs, other problems arose. I developed an ulcer requiring medication, and extremely serious sinus infections increased. I developed sinus "polyps" which are typically outgrowths of tissue which are an indication and result of allergy. I had many painful polypectomies during the next ten years.
The mounting medication took it's toll - when I had my first panic attack I didn't know what had hit me. My heart felt as though it was going to explode and I thought I was going to die. Panic disorder was finally diagnosed, and continued for 13 long years with a host of accompanying drugs.

I was now taking 17 drugs! The ENT confirmed the polyps had migrated into the upper sinus cavity above the eyes and the best he could offer was another more delicate, operation. The bone separating the brain from the sinus cavity is as thin as a piece of paper and if punctured, brain damage is certain, and death possible. The operation required intricate fibre-optic work by a highly trained specialist ENT. Prior knowledge that someone had recently been damaged in this way, risks involved and being a ninny into the bargain - I decided to ask God to help me instead. The ENT's final words were "Sally-Ann, you are between a rock and a hard place." My condition would just worsen and I'd live on cortisone and pain killers forever.

Bill and I determined that together with God's help, we'd find a way to deal with this. Bill began to pray earnestly for me, and I believe it was through his faithfulness and God's kindness that He healed me. I give God glory for healing me in a way I would not have dreamt of. One afternoon I watched a TV programme about a Doctor Robbie Simons, who had successfully reversed chronic illnesses using food and supplementation. I made an appointment to see him.

I hoped he wasn't new age , and so I prayed and asked the Lord to show me if it was safe to see him. I read my Proverbs reading that day from the Old Testament. It was 18th November, I turned to Proverbs 18 in The Amplified Bible, and read down to verse 9: "He who is loose and slack in his work is brother to him who is a destroyer, and he who does not use his endeavours to heal himself is brother to him who commits suicide". Looking at the reference to this verse at the bottom of the page, it read: "This verse so reads in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament). Its statement squarely addresses the problem of whether one has a moral right to neglect his body by 'letting nature take its unhindered course' in illness." I knew God had answered me - I had to get on with finding healing according to His leading.

Dr Simons gave me a nutrition-based programme which I stuck to rigidly, and as my health improved so my desire for knowledge grew. I passionately read anything and everything concerning health. A year later, Robbie announced that he was going back to Australia. He had been my mentor urging me to study further and expand my knowledge, so I enrolled in an Australian college academy where I attained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Clinical Nutrition, and today my greatest joy is helping others to recover. I believe God alone healed me, and in no less a miraculous and spectacular way than if He had reached down and physically touched me. The fact that He chose to heal me through nutrition is no less miraculous to me than an instantaneous miracle. I am profoundly grateful that He chose this method because it kept me from continuing to eat in a foolish fashion, and he used my illness so I can now help others.

My book "Let Food Be Your Medicine" (still a best seller around the world years later) is now in it's third edition - and by reading it I hope you will find helpful information to enable you to get well.

What Is Clinical Nutrition?
Clinical nutrition is a discipline whereby deficiencies are identified and met through food and supplements. Any tests needed are called for (such as cholesterol, glucose etc), and through good sound nutrition, people are expected to recover from chronic illness. All serious illness requires the intervention of a nutritionally-orientated medical professional, and no nutritionist has the authority to take a person off medication.

However through sound nutrition and supplementation, often the person is able to reduce or stop their medication under their doctor's supervision as the symptoms improve or are alleviated. Food intolerances are identified and addressed, and advice offered on which foods are best avoided or included in the diet.

Other conditions which are often improved through diet are allergies, heart disease, ME, fibromyalgia, all bowel diseases, all cholesterol profiles - and virtually anything other than genetic disease which is permanent. A good reason to consult a qualified clinical nutritionist would be to assess your nutritional status, and even just improve your energy levels!

In today's world our food is sprayed with chemicals, the meat we eat is full of antibiotics and hormones, the milk full of growth hormones and the water polluted - we are at a great disadvantage. Wise nutrition and supplementation often have a dramatic effect on overall health and longevity.