WE all regularly promise ourselves we will put a bit more effort into looking after ourselves inside and out.

But many of us have no idea how to go about it or are sceptical about how it will work.

Nutritionist, hypnotherapist and holistic health coach Jaclyn Dunne knows exactly how that feels since she was once a convert herself - and she has seen such amazing results it ended up creating an entirely different career and lifestyle for her.

She has just published her first book, Mind Body Miracle, which in its first week on Amazon got to number seven in its health, well-being and spirituality category, in which she is hoping to help others take control of their own lifestyles.

Jaclyn, who lives near Braintree and runs her own holistic well-being company helping people with nutrition and lifestyle advice, says the book might even have helped save her sister's life.

"When I had written it my publisher said I should get someone to proof-read it who was no necessarily following that lifestyle and would have an objective view.

"So I asked my sister Joanna to do that for me.

"She rang me up really late one night and was shouting about how she had never realised how damaging sugar was and she was at that moment just throwing everything in her cupboards away.

"From that point she basically cut out as much sugar as possible and lost two stone in weight very quickly.

"And once her body started to change she noticed she could feel some lumps along what you would call 'fatty curtain' which is underneath your breasts and at the top of the rib cage.

"And when she went to the doctors she was quickly diagnosed with stage three cancer.

"She was later told it was a very slow growing cancer which may have been there for up to five years so we do believe if she had not lost that weight when she had it would have got even further without her realising as there were no other symptoms," adds Jaclyn.

Joanna underwent a series of operations to remove the cancer including a full hysterectomy and has gone on to lose another three stones in weight.

"I do believe that weight loss, that realisation, saved her life and she has not looked back really.

"That is what I want to do with that book - give people the information and the realisation about what they are putting in their bodies," she says.

The mum-of-two has strong views on sugar, believing people will soon look back and be incredulous foods such as chocolate and sweets are seen as acceptable gifts for people while in hospital.

"We cannot believe now that people used to be able to smoke in hospitals and I feel the same about chocolate and sweets being allowed in there.

"And also the selling of cakes to raise funds and awareness for diseases.

"Those foods are part of the reason people get ill in the first place."

Jaclyn herself once had a hugely stressful job working in London where she was accountant - she says a health diagnosis of her own put her on the journey to thinking about how she lived her life.

"I began to become really unwell and was fainting every day on the tube which was pretty dangerous.

"I was very sick and was fainting maybe four or times a week when I was eventually diagnosed as having pernicious anaemia."

As a result she was told she needed regular B12 injections for the rest of her life as a result of the condition which causes your immune system to attack the cells in your stomach.

"I felt dreadful and probably knew then I needed to make some changes in my diet and lifestyle but I carried on, well plodded on really, for the next 15 years," she says.

But Jaclyn then had to cope with the loss of both her parents, who had split up when she was young, within five days of each other and she began to look at things differently.

"My mum had been ill for about ten years and then she died aged 64 and my dad died five days later having had heart disease and strokes.

"Both of their illnesses were lifestyle related and so it started me thinking about what was going to happen to me.

"I began to study hypnotherapy and then I went to a lecture about nutrition and I had a real lightbulb moment when the person speaking started talking about the lining of the gut and how B12 is stored in the gut and so I thought perhaps if I de-toxed and re-trained my gut I could help my own condition," adds Jaclyn.

Having done just that Jaclyn says she has not had to have a B12 injection in the past six years.

She went on to launch her own business, Mind Body Detox, helping other people and in her book she says she is seeking to instil strength and belief in others through a variety of techniques.

"The book includes chapters about meditation and affirmation and also about the power of being positive.

"I had surrounded myself with a lot of negative people and that was having an effect and so you have to have the strength to realise that," she says.

Jaclyn, who also runs sugar workshops highlighting its hidden dangers, admits she regularly meets people who are sceptical about her approach but it is something she believes in and wants to share with others.

"People can be really unkind and I used to try and react to what people said as they could be really nasty, but now I see it is a complete waste of time.

"People are always going to say mean things and the best thing to do is try and ignore it. Keep doing what you are doing."

Jaclyn is already writing her second book which she believes will be a bit more controversial.

"It is about the harm we do to our children without even realising it.

"I have recently launched a charity called Inside Out which will be going into schools to work on the emotional and physical well-being of children.

"A growing number of children from just eleven years old are suffering from anxiety and are even self harming.

"In this book I want to look at things like the amount of time children spend on computers and ipads and also the impact of a dependency on over the counter medicines.

"We all reach for them but there are other things we can use."

* Mind Body Miracle is available from Amazon as an e-book and also in paperback.