Barriers, what barriers, you question. This is a free country. If an individual wants to become a vegetarian, then he or she just goes ahead and does so, right? Well, yes, and no. And it’s a BIG no.
There are a number of powerful internal and external influences that shape our behaviors. Some even argue that we have little or no free will. In essence, there are a number of hurdles and obstacles that must be negotiated on the road to changing to a vegetarian or vegan diet. They include physiological habits, psychological influences, sociological expectations, peer pressures, medical misperceptions, wrong assumptions, commercial interests, and political realities. Those that have traveled that road would most likely affirm the assertion.
Because of these barriers, the typical American has a difficult time in understanding why someone would choose to stop eating meat, dairy, fish, and eggs and subsist solely on foods grown from the earth. But once these impediments are defeated, and the individual makes it to the other side, the reasons become as obvious as anything can become. And the rewards are as huge as any rewards can be.