Your heart beats faster, neurotransmitters ignite, endorphins kick in, your mouth begins to water and your palms begin to sweat. Yes, it's the anticipation of all things sweet and chocolaty on Valentine's Day. But if you have friends and loved ones who want to avoid the high calories and fat content of chocolate candy, there's good news.

Balance Bar, one of America's original nutrition/energy bar leaders, is bringing back its popular Balance-tine Day Chocolate Gift Assortment. It's the perfect Valentine for active, on-the go women and men who appreciate the right combination of great taste, healthy nutrition, energy and convenience.

The Balance-tine Day Chocolate Gift Assortment includes eight Balance Bar chocolate favorites (Caramel Nut Blast, Double Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Craze, Chocolate Mint Cookie Crunch, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Cookie Dough, S'mores and Triple Chocolate Chaos) nestled in a keepsake red and white heart-shaped tin. 

Why Oh Why Do We Go GaGa for Chocolate?

"There are few things more satisfying than learning that chocolate is good for you," said Joyce Daoust, a certified nutritionist and national best selling co-author of THE FORMULA, A Personalized 40-30-30 Weight Loss Program. "Its creamy texture captures our taste buds. It contains pleasure chemicals that soothes our nerves and heightens our senses, and it contains antioxidants that have been shown to have cellular and cardiovascular protective properties.

"You can gain even more pleasure eating chocolatewhen it's part of a Balance Bar. Balance Bars can help you make your healthy, balanced diet easy without depriving yourself of one of life's delicious pleasures - chocolate."

The Skinny on the Balance-tine Day Chocolate Gift Assortment

Each 1.76 oz. single-serve Balance Bar in the gift set contains at least 14 grams of protein, 200 calories, 23 vitamins and minerals with an excellent source of antioxidants and vitamin D, and adheres to the 40/30/30 nutritional model (40% of calories come from healthy carbohydrates, 30% from quality protein, and 30% from dietary fat). They are all certified Kosher and each flavor has its own unique taste and texture:

·       Caramel Nut Blast is a blend of creamy caramel and crunchy peanuts coated in rich chocolate.

·       Chocolate Crazeblends a smooth chocolate core with chocolate chips and a chocolate coating.

·       Chocolate Mint Cookie Crunch combines a crunchy cookie base with cool mint.

·       Chocolate Peanut Butter unites two popular and irresistible ingredients, chocolate and peanut butter.

·       Cookie Doughprovides the rich flavor of chocolate chip and cookie dough.

·       Double Chocolate Brownie has a rich chocolate brownie protein center topped with a drizzle of chocolaty goodness.

·       S'mores is a crisp layer of graham cracker topped with a light marshmallow filling and coated with milk chocolate.

·       Triple Chocolate Chaos has a protein-packed chocolate center topped with chocolate fudge coated in milk chocolate.

The very affordable Balance-tine Day Chocolate Gift Assortment is only available online at www.Balance.com while supplies last. The price is $11.99 plus shipping and handling (and taxes where applicable). Orders must be placed by February 10, 2012.                      

About Balance Bar

Founded in 1992, Balance Bar, one of America's original nutrition/energy bars, inspires consumers to lead active, well-rounded and balanced lives by providing great-tasting, healthy and convenient nutrition for lasting energy. Balance Bars come in six unique product lines (Original, Gold, BARE, Café, nimble and CarbWell) and are available in 22 flavors with all based on a 40/30/30 nutritional model (40% of calories come from healthy carbohydrates, 30% from quality protein and 30% from dietary fat). For more information, visit www.Balance.com. Follow Balance Bar for tips and nutritional information on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Balancebar) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/Balancebar).

About Joyce Daoust

Joyce Daoust is a certified nutritionist and best selling co-author of The Formula, A Personalized 40-30-30 Weight Loss Program. She was part of the original team who developed and tested the 40-30-30 zone ratio. Joyce has reunited with the Balance Bar Company as its nutrition advisor. She continues to inspire consumers with online articles and 40-30-30 recipes to keep their diets balanced.