Welcome to The Lean Plate Club, hosted by Washington Post health and nutrition writer Sally Squires . Share your tips on healthy recipes, meal plans, sugar alternatives and resisting overeating with other readers.

On Tuesdays at 1 p.m. ET , Sally, who has a master's degree in nutrition from Columbia University, leads a lively discussion for readers looking for new ways to eat smarter and move around more throughout the day. The Lean Plate Club is dedicated to healthy living -- whether you're trying to whittle your waistline or simply maintain it.

We want to hear your tips, strategies, meal plans, successes, setbacks and more. Of course Sally will be happy to answer questions and turn others over to the Club. None of this, however, is a substitute for medical advice.

Squires is a veteran health reporter for The Washington Post. She is co-author of "The Stoplight Diet for Children" and author of the upcoming "Secrets of the Lean Plate Club" (St. Martin's Press; 2006).

Sign up for the free Lean Plate Club e-mail newsletter . The Lean Plate Club column appears weekly in the Washington Post Health section and is nationally syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group .

Welcome to the Lean Plate Club. And Happy Day after July Fourth! I'm reading David McCullough's fine book 1776 and must say it is a wonderful reminder of the gifts that so many have given us in generations before and continue to do so today. So thank you to all of them. But I know, that's not what we're here to talk about so pardon the digression.

If you'd like to subscribe to this free service, just log onto www.leanplateclub@washpost.com. And if you have subscribed and don't receive your copy, please let me know at leanplateclub@washpost.com.

The well-known and oft-used body mass index is one of the topics up for discussion today. As you'll see in today's Health Section, there's a lot of discussion about the BMI leaving some people feeling too secure and others too worried.

In today's LPC e-mail newsletter which should be in your electronic in-boxes now, you'll find more on the BMI, plus plenty of recipes and links to activities that will help keep you moving this summer. Summer is the perfect time of year to try out new eating and exercise habits. So tell us about yours.