When G-d created the first souls (Adam and Chava), he clothed them with a physical body. Clothing both hides, and at the same time reveals (or expresses) what it covers. The way a person dresses and his style of clothing, can reveal a lot about his personality. So too, the body both hid the soul, while simultaneously expressing it through physical actions. The soul constantly pines for a closer connection to its creator; something which can only be accomplished through the physical Mitzvos and actions that the body performs. The body is the means through which the soul attains a state of clinging to G-d (D'veikus BaHashem). Adam and Chava had no reason to be embarrassed that they were naked, because they realized that their bodies had a purpose and great meaning, as they were simply a means to the goal of serving Hashem.
The snake comes and tells Chava that if she eats the fruit of the tree of knowledge, she will be like a god. She sees that the tree is fit to be eaten, and has a Taavah for it. Chava wanted to be important (like a god) and do that which was physically desirous (eat the fruit - she wanted to express her own identity. She wanted to do what SHE wanted). In other words, Chava put the desires of her body before the desires of her soul. The soul doesn't want to be "like a god;" the soul wants to be a part of G-d (it is Chelek Elokai MeMaal), not an individual entity. The soul certainly doesn't have physical desires! What Chava did, was place physical gratification before purpose and meaning. She put her ephemeral identity before her eternal one. The soul, which used the body as clothing was no longer the Ikar (primary). Chava made the body the Ikar, and the soul only secondary. The body became primary, like the soul had been before she ate from the tree. Since the body was now the Ikar, it needed to be clothed. After Adam and Chava ate from the fruit of the tree, the Torah writes that they were embarrassed to be naked. Did their I.Q's suddenly jump after eating from a tree, and now they realized they weren't wearing clothes? No, it was that before they sinned, they HAD clothes, so to speak. They were physically naked, but the soul was the main part of them, so the body covered it and expressed it. Once they sinned, and made their bodies the primary focus of their existence, now they were naked. Now their bodies needed clothing. The body lost its purpose and meaning as a means; instead it became a goal in and of itself.
The body is, ideally, nothing to be embarrassed about. If we lived in the Garden of Eden, and realized that the body is only a means, then being naked would not be embarrassing in the least. The problem is when we see the world as a means for self-gratification, and not as having eternal purpose and meaning, that everything becomes a joke and easy to make fun of, because it becomes completely subjective. Far too often we make the means into the goal, and lose track of what our true goal is. The Jew's goal is serving G-d by bringing "spirituality" into the world; making the world "G-d conscious." Exercise can be a means to this goal, one should be healthy so that he can do this job properly. Unfortunately, today people go to the doctor and make sure that they are healthy so that they can exercise. Why? It's a vicious cycle. Whatever we do, we must keep a proper perspective: Is this just a means, or have I made it into the goal?
I was hanging decorations in the Succah with my brother one year, and while trying to tie a plastic fruit to the Schach, it fell on the ground. I realized that I had been so focused on tying the fruit to the ceiling, that I had forgoten to hold on to the fruit. I became so fixated on the knot that I forgot what its purpose was. Sometimes we have to remember to hold on to the fruit.
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