"I'll have an Amply Proportioned Mac for me and a Subsumed With a Feeling of Geniality Meal for the boy, please. And two apple tartines for dessert."

It's not likely that's how you'll be ordering at McDonald's any time soon, but the mood could indeed change rather dramatically if the fast feeder takes to heart (and stomach) the results of a new study that found softer lighting and mellower music make diners eat less ... but order the same amount.

"We found that softer music and lighting led diners to eat 174 fewer calories and enjoy it more," says the study's lead author, Brian Wansink, professor of marketing and director of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab.

Working with Koert van Ittersum of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Wansink oversaw an overhaul of a Hardee's in Illinois. Half the restaurant remained true to its fast-food roots. The other half went upscale — or at least medium-scale — with softer lighting and softer music, too: jazz. Patrons were randomly assigned heaven or hell, er, one half of the restaurant or the other. Though the food and portions remained the same, the folks who ended up in jazzland consumed 18 percent less in terms of calories than their counterparts yet somehow felt just as full — and happier, too.

This does not come as a surprise to those of us who have spent any time at all in a place where the main stimulation is to connect the place mat dots — which only go up to 8. Oh, look! It's a hamburger with eyes! The children are screaming; the ketchup is flowing; and the fries are turning to Styrofoam because they only taste great for the first eight seconds, which you just wasted connecting the creepy dots.

What really is happening when you're at a place like that is the environment is encouraging you to eat and run, says life management expert Kimberly Friedmutter (a person, not a new dessert). "Anyplace there's noise and activity going on, adrenaline and cortisol block your feelings and drive you into action. And the action that you're there to do is eat," she says.

Fast food's garish color palette does the same thing. It incites action. "Drive down the street and you won't see a fast-food restaurant without red and yellow. McDonald's, Jack in the Box, KFC..." Friedmutter says. Those colors are the opposite of green and blue, which are a lot more relaxing.

Calmer colors, lights and music can help you feel full eating less because now it's more than just your stomach being satisfied, says Northwestern University psychologist Howard Farkas. Your eyes have something to look at. The quiet allows conversation. The cushy seats allow you not to feel dipping sauce seeping into your slacks. And pretty soon, all your senses are pleasantly engaged, not just your stomach. "A person who takes that approach to eating is able to feel satisfied with a much smaller quantity of food. The overall sensory experience of satisfaction is the cue to stop eating." As opposed to the button popping off your pants.

Wansink thinks his study may encourage fast-food restaurants to kick it down a notch. "Making simple changes away from brighter lights and sound-reflecting surfaces can go a long way toward reducing overeating — and increase their customers' satisfaction at the same time."

So could new place mats. But one thing at a time.

Lenore Skenazy is the author of "Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)" and "Who's the Blonde That Married What's-His-Name? The Ultimate Tip-of-the-Tongue Test of Everything You Know You Know — But Can't Remember Right Now." To find out more about Lenore Skenazy ([email protected]) and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.