With paperwork signed on his third central Texas practice and four sons under 15, time is at a premium for 39-year-old Dr. Matt Huff. And had someone told him just a few years ago that he’d now be competing as a bodybuilder,doing side work as a model and rising for 5 a.m. daily workouts, he’d have been incredulous.

“I’ve always felt like a holistic approach to health is important.” he says. “Conventional medicine. alternative medicine. good nutrition – it wasn’t a real life change for me: it just got more solidified.”

The catalyst: a series of mysterious ailments that befell his wife, Rebecah, shortly after the birth of their youngest son. She was ultimately diagnosed with Cushing’s disease, a pituitary hormonal aberration. She needed to recover for several months at her parents’ house; Dr. Huff remained home, running his practice and caring for their three oldest sons.

Dr. Matt Huff and his wife Rebecah at a road race.

“When she was struggling so much, I needed to get my mind cleaned up and de-stress,” he says. “Seeing her sick. I started thinking, ‘I have nothing.’ If you don’t have your health, you don’t have much.”

Then his life really began to change. He signed on with Duane Shortt, a trainer who had worked with Hollywood stars including Thomas Haden Church and the late Patrick Swayze. Dr. Huff then began appearing in ads for Shortt’s company and soon got into bodybuilding. While preparing for his first bodybuilding competition, he scheduled a shoot with a magazine photographer who suggested he start modeling – and a second career of sorts began to emerge.

Find out how his patients responded and what he’s doing now. Read the full story in the Incisal Edge Fall edition: https://viewer.zmags.com/publication/9975d83d#/9975d83d/18