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1 Cor 11:26For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

Do you understand why it is a state of guilt if the bread and cup are taken unworthily? Guilty of what? ... Cannibalism. God forbade the drinking of blood. Guilty of cannibalism by the will, if one takes the cup of WINE without being a Christian believer in what Jesus did for us and for our Salvation, in sacrificing His Body and His Life Blood for us.

Look at what Paul says earlier in that chapter.

“17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. 20 So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, 21 for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. 22 Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!”

And v. 29.

“29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”

If the body of Christ was not actually present, why would Paul comment on discerning it?

If your statement was true, Paul would have mentioned cannibalism when mentioning the things that result in eating and drinking unworthily.

Also, at the very beginning of this discussion I mentioned that some things are forbidden in Scripture, but with very specific exceptions.

God forbade the drinking of blood.

And the early Catholics agree:

Acts 15:28-29

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:

²⁹You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.

You will do well to avoid these things.