Recently my grand uncle passed away when travelling in train. The cause of death is a second stroke (first stroke 3 years ago), with high VLDL Cholesterol level.
Since it's a family heritage of abnormal cholesterol level and tendency of stroke and heart attack, I may have to prepare for the inevitable. Although I'm still young, my blood is quite...sticky and thick.
Any advice to reduce the risk?
Edit: he's in his early 60s, quite a sudden death.
Hard arteries are a symptom of an endemic problem, and thus not where the problem should be tackled. Aspirin is recommended to older patients, but it's already a stopgap measure if it's being recommended due to blood indicators. You're very, very wise to be tackling this problem ahead of time.
Firstly, you want to increase your HDL levels. Many people seem to worry about exogenous cholesterol (that you eat), but that's not really the problem. You want to remain slim, if you can, and eat a regularly healthy diet. This is the best way of reducing your total cholesterol levels.
To increase your HDL, you should focus on eating foods that help this. I haven't found anything better than regular tomato eating. Regular tomato (a couple a day) will increase your HDL to much better levels, and this allows the HDL to keep your arteries clean.
Eliminating transfats is also very important. These fats are nothing but trouble.
Finally, berries contain anticoagulants as well, and this will have a similar effect to aspirin. It will help reduce the speed at which clots form, and thus should be eaten regularly.
If you're genetically disposed to high VLDL levels, you could talk to a doctor about cholesterol-reducing medication. But none of this contradicts what I've said above.
