I would guess one way of avoiding atherosclerosis is to avoid the components of the induced-atherosclerotic diet used in medical research. Below is one which I found. Dairy and sugar seem to top the list. 

http://aretha.jax.org/pub-cgi/phenome/mpdcgi?rtn=prodocs/hlb_athero

Analysis: 

15% dairy fat 
50% sucrose 
20% casein 
0.5% cholic acid (http://www.greatvistachemicals.com/biochemicals/cholic_acid_cholate.html)
1.0% cholesterol 
 
Preparation: 

Components Source For 10 kg: 

dairy butter, unsalted Hannaford or Cabot   1845 g 
corn oil  Mazola or Qualipure   200 mL 
sucrose  Hannaford (pure granulated)  5000 g 
cellulose (Alphacel)   407 g 
cholesterol   96 g 
sodium cholate    50 g 
AIN-76 Mineral Mix  500 g 
AIN-76 Vitamin Mix  100 g 
DL-methionine   30 g 
DL-alpha-tocopherol   13 g 
choline chloride (0.5 g/mL)   200 mL 
Distilled water   ~ 350 mL 
 
Marilyn