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We all wish we could eat a burger with fries everyday without having to pay attention to America's growing obesity problem. Now, some new research said the quick fix is all in the mind. 

Researchers from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management suggests learning how to stop enjoying unhealthy food sooner may play a pivotal role in combating America's obesity problem. 

The research is published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Through a series of experiments, researchers discovered that when people with high self-control eat unhealthy foods, they become satisfied with the experience faster than when they are eating healthy foods and thus eat less. 

"When people talk about self-control, they really imply that self-control is willpower and that some people have it and others don't when facing a tempting treat," Joseph Redden, lead author of the study, said. "In reality, nearly everyone likes these treats. Some people just stop enjoying them faster and for them it's easier to say no."

In one study, the researchers asked participants to monitor themselves as they ate by counting how many times they swallowed. With this subtle clue to the amount eaten, those with low self-control became satisfied at a faster rate. Redden said they were surprised at how easy it was to recreate self-control - just using a baseball pitch counter made low self-control people act like they had high self-control.

"People can essentially use attention for how much they are consuming instead of relying on self-control," Redden says. "Really paying a lot more attention to the quantity will lead people to feel satiated faster and eat less."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of U.S. adults are obese and in 2008, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.